The Sanest in the Asylum
by Mable
Summary: When Six falls into the mysterious world of Wonderland everything seems bright and cheerful. However, Wonderland is hiding dark secrets, and Six gets involved in something greater than himself. The King of Hearts now wants his head and Six, left with no options, must set off with a few allies to find out the truth of what he's hiding. Can he escape with his mind intact?
1. Down the Rabbit Hole

**Mable: What started as a request for 'Whose-Responsible-This' and now is going to become a bit of a longer fic, a chaptered fic. I don't own 9 or Alice in Wonderland, Enjoy!**

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_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter One: Down the Rabbit Hole_

Sometimes it was hard to be considered completely insane by your friends and family. Six knew this and yet still had to brace himself sometimes for the harsh reality of being somewhat ignored. He drug himself out of the Library with a clear frown on his face on this newest occasion before staring back at the Library behind him. It was the looming shell outside the new Sanctuary built inside and looked quite unfriendly at the moment. Going back inside to face the others, the others who once again failed to make sense of his words, would be a true nightmare.

He then looked back at the newest drawing in his hands. It was based off of a nightmare than he had a few nights ago that he could barely remember and looked only like some sort of flower. He didn't remember the nightmare itself, but had hoped that, at least, discussing the drawing would jog his memory. Unfortunately, none of the others seemed very interested in wanting to guess what exactly Six's drawing was of. They just did what they usually did, tolerate Six's rambling and not understand that much.

The Artist sulked at the thought and headed towards the entrance of the Library's courtyard. Unlike usual when he was simply passively social, Six wanted to be alone, he didn't want to be disturbed either. He crossed to the gate and sat down on a metal rung of the lower portion. Staring at the paper in his hands he found himself even more discouraged. Nobody ever appreciated his work and never did he ever find proper inspiration. Without the nightmares, Six wouldn't be able to draw at all, and that made them a mixed blessing.

In the Library it wasn't as though there was much that they he could see for inspiration. Just books, shelves, and rubble, just a mess. Six rested his head against the cold metal of the gate and waited for something to come into his mind to draw next. That was when he suddenly heard shuffling nearby and his optics opened immediately in alarm. Shuffling noises in the Emptiness usually meant a Beast was nearby and Six was in no state to fight one. He didn't have a weapon and he didn't even know how to fight even if he did have one.

He looked through the Emptiness surrounding him as carefully as possible in the light of the cloudy day above. The sky was a blank white color with only a few patches of grey; not a great indicator of rain in the future. That was when his eyes caught something in the distance by a tipped over car. It was clearly a Stitchpunk, but he couldn't see it well, and the only thing he noticed outright was that it was wearing something white on its chest and an odd hat contraption. It was clearly a Stitchpunk, though, and Six felt interest overwhelm.

Even with him wanting to be alone, Six was friendly enough to go after the newcomer, wondering if he hadn't had noticed anyone else yet. The Artist dropped the drawing to the ground by the gate and put a small piece of broken cement on it to hold it down. Then he followed after the new Stitchpunk with a quick sprint, his fingers tightening around the key in a slight bit of shyness. Six would admit that when alone he was just as shy as Five was, if not more so. The Stitchpunk didn't seem to notice Six and was jogging in the opposite direction of him.

"Wait!" Six called after him, "Come back! We're here!" Almost as though the new Stitchpunk was searching for them and he followed him behind the overturned car. Six caught only a glance at the Stitchpunk before it lifted something wooden and slipped underneath it into the ground. It was some sort of trap door and by time Six arrived at it, it was closed tightly once again, and he stared downwards at it with curious, blinking optics. Then he slowly lifted the wood as the other Stitchpunk had and stared downwards. It was a short drop into some sort of tunnel.

"Someone living under the ground?" Six asked himself in confusion, his voice soft and barely audible, before crouching down on his knees and lowering his head down. His key hung heavily around his neck as he stared downwards into the length of the tunnel. It was lined with matches that were stuck into the wall and now merely sitting there burning. He didn't know why the Stitchpunk would have lined the wall with matches this quickly so he assumed that they had been put there beforehand, yet then they would have burned out by now; it was a very confusing situation.

Six stood and turned to head back to the Library to get the others when he stopped. _"They won't believe me. They don't ever believe me." _He managed to convince himself before turning back towards the hole, "But… But maybe if I bring him back myself… Maybe then they won't- they will- they won't look at me like that anymore." A wide smile took his face and he started to slowly approach the hole once again. He wanted to be like the others who were able to save the others and be helpful. This time he kneeled down before lowering himself into the hole.

The tunnel looked safe enough as it was, so he didn't feel as though he was readily risking his life or anything of the sort. Once standing securely inside he started down the match lined way after the other Stitchpunk. Even with the matches, it seemed like the tunnel was unbelievably dark, and a wall of darkness loomed head even when more matches began to appear one after another. He continued along the tunnel that smelled strongly of earth and carried a cold breeze through it.

Then something changed and Six started to notice that he was soon heading in a downwards slope instead of straight. The steepness continued as the tunnel continued drop into the earth. Six was soon struggling to keep himself from tripping and tumbling down. Unfortunately, he was a bit clumsy, and all it took was a little loose dirt and his feet slipped out from underneath him. The next thing he knew he was rolling down the hill. This went on for a while until he smashed into another trap door on the ground.

He laid on the wood for a second before slowly pushing himself upwards onto his knees. That's when he actually took a good look at the wooden door beneath him. It wasn't like the trap door from before either. It was a Stitchpunk sized door of dark mahogany with an actual doorknob of brass. The fact that the Stitchpunk had made a door that looked exactly like a human sized one and made it in pristine condition. That was when the knob suddenly turned on its own and Six only had a second to wonder which way the door went.

The door dropped open and Six was falling once again; but instead of rolling down a slope he was falling straight downwards. The surrounding world had changed massively as well and his optics scanned the surrounding in desperation as he cried out in horror. The tunnel he was falling through wasn't made of dirt, but walls lines with mirrors. Some were closer than others and distorted the Artist's reflection. Random other bits of furniture occasionally jutted out of the walls in certain intervals; such as shelves and lamps.

His audio receptors were throbbing with the sound of repeatedly clicking that Six soon assumed was the pounding of a clock. All he could see was a mirror reflecting beneath him before he suddenly fell into it. Only then did he realize that it was not a mirror, but a pool of water, and he was sinking into it quickly. His mouth shut tight to keep any air in as he struggled to swim. Ink stained the water around him as he managed to start rising at a slow pace. Then he finally reached the surface and his head burst through with a cough and a sputter.

Before he could focus on the world around him he forced himself to get to the edge of the pool and climb out. All he noticed was the marble floor beneath him, black and white checkerboard, and collapsed against it. A soggy ragdoll laying limp against the marble floor beneath him. Eventually his pen tipped hands went underneath him to push him off of the marble floor beneath him. It took a few tries as his hands wet with dried ink that had been soaked by the water slid around the floor.

Soon he pulled onto his knees and looked upwards at his surroundings. What Six saw was the last thing he had expected to see at the bottom of this pit. It was another hall; this one made of white wallpaper with high ceilings and lined with curtains over certain areas as though covering windows. He was in awe to see something like this underground and slowly rose to his feet, _"How… How did he make this?" _He looked at the hall in complete awe, only partially noticing that the loud ticking had started to dull until he could barely hear it.

He approached the nearest curtain and opened it to see outside. However, there was no window before him, and instead was another door. He blinked at the sight and tried the doorknob. It didn't turn at all and Six was surprised at such. "Huh…" He spoke softly before going to look at the next door in line. It was a bit smaller in height, but the first door had been a good bit taller than Six so he didn't notice. The knob barely turned as well and now Six noticed the keyhole underneath the knob. The doors had to be locked, which was somehow keeping the knobs secure.

That wasn't the strangest thing as the doors continued to get smaller and smaller until the last door at the end of the hall. This one was just as well made as the others, but only went to Six's knees, and right beside it was a small table that looked to be made out of glass. He kneeled down and tried the tiny door, only to be surprised when it opened, and he stared through. Through the door was the world outside. It was a lovely meadow filled with lovely flowers that were colored in striking blues and reds. He hadn't seen flowers before, especially ones that were such vibrant colors.

The sky was a beautiful blue as well and the grass was bright green. It was lovely, beautiful, nothing like the Emptiness that Six knew. Suddenly the thought of heading home was gone for the present and was replaced with wondering how to get into the meadow beyond the door. As he stood upwards he noticed something on the table beside him. It hadn't been there before, but now here it was, a bottle sitting there. He stared at it, crouched at eye level with it, before straightening himself, _"That… Was that there before?... I don't think so." _

He clenched his hand a bit and rubbed the fingers together before reaching forward and touching the glass bottle. It was small and filled with a golden liquid that was rather bubbly, as he could see the small bubbles raising to the surface as he lifted it. On the neck was a small tag with the words 'Drink me' clearly printed. There was a cork closing the bottle's end that he dug his sharp fingers into and pulled. There was a soft 'pop' and a light spray of liquid went across his optics, which he wiped away with the canvas on his arm.

Stitchpunks were able to smell well, an odd trait considering their lack of outer scent receptor, and Six tried to trace any odd smell. Not much would actually poison Stitchpunks, but some liquids would emit vapors that made Stitchpunks either confused or completely unconscious, usually accompanying certain beasts. The liquid in the bottle didn't smell like chemicals though. It smelled sweet and the Artist was tempted to try it in his mouth. Flavor receptors were also common in Stitchpunks, but were not frequently used and mostly just an assistant to the scent receptors.

This smelled like it would taste nicely though and Six wanted to try it. He tilted back the bottle and let the cold, sweet liquid soak into the fabric in his mouth, continuing to let it pour in until the small bottle was completely empty. Only then did he pull the bottle away and close his mouth to savor the flavor left in his mouth. That was, until his body twitched, and his optics blinked in confusion. That had been strange; as though his entire body has a spasm. Then it happened, a warmth spreading across his fabric, and the world moved.

He dropped the bottle and it shattered against the marble floor as the room shifted around him. He fell back onto the marble floor and shielded his eyes as everything moved and changed around him. His body was trembling and continued to do so even once the world had stabilized. He only then peeked out through his fingers and immediately gasped at the sight. The surroundings had expanded, had grown, and now stood taller than ever before. It didn't take him too long to realize that this was an inaccurate guess; the world hadn't grown, he had shrunk.

This meant that he was now small enough to go through the door, though, so he soon managed to get over his surprise at being small and rushed over to the door to try and get through. Unfortunately, now this door considered itself locked, and Six couldn't understand until he saw a small gold key on the glass table. With him this size the key was about as big as the one around his neck and the keyhole for the door was big enough to fit it. There was also a small wooden box tucked behind a table leg that the Artist pushed open and stared inside of.

They looked like small crackers and Six picked one up, breaking it in half and watching it crumble before him. If the drink made him small then this could maybe make him larger. Then, suddenly, he had an idea. "Wait!" He spoke to himself, "Maybe I could… I know!" Then he crossed back over to the small door and smiled hopefully as he shoved his own key inside. With most keys, this wouldn't work, but somehow this door unlocked quickly with the substitute key. Six was then able to open the door and step out into the meadow.

The feeling of soft grass underneath his feet was a comfort he seldom was accustomed to and he scanned the area around him. It was absolutely amazing; the large, lush field, dotted with flowers that now stood to his waist, and beyond what he could see were tall mountains which disappeared into the clouds above, which only collected around the mountains and elsewise opened to reveal blue skies. It was amazing, but he was soon stopped by the sound of a voice nearby. He blinked a bit as he scanned the surroundings, trying to figure out who was talking.

"Of all times to be late. Really." The voice scolded, perhaps to itself, and Six soon noticed the figure down the path. He was both surprised and thrilled to see the Stitchpunk from before. However, in this new light he noticed something very peculiar about this Stitchpunk, and as he crept forward it stood out like a beacon. The whiteness from the Stitchpunk's body was from a stark white vest and the hat he wore was strange; like a top hat with looping wires that connected two long and narrow bulbs to the base, they almost resembled ears.

The male was also staring at a map pulled open in his hands and hummed to himself, "I am most definitely lost. This cannot be the right way. Perhaps if I pass the Duchess'…" Then he perked and straightened himself before looking back in horror. It was almost as though he expected some sort of monster behind him and quickly exhaled in relief before smiling in a friendly way. "Oh, good morning there! I am glad to meet someone else on such a fine day. Tell me, do you know how to get to Morrow's Pass?" Six stared at the Stitchpunk in alarm without an answer.

There was no doubt; this Stitchpunk was Two.

He blinked a bit before asking, "Two?" The white vested male blinked in confusion, "Have we met?" The Artist was beyond perplexed, "Yes! I'm Six!" 'Two' blinked a bit before growing apologetic, "I am sorry, but my mind is elsewhere at the moment. I cannot remember meeting a Six- Oh! Was that you who I met last month who was painting the garden of roses?" The striped one shook his head slowly. "Ah. Well, whoever that was he did a wonderful job. You could barely tell that they were ever white to begin with."

Then he folded his map and gave a brief bow, "I am Blanco Rabbet, but most just address me by 'Two'. What's your name?" Six was still confused, but suppressed it well enough. _"This isn't real." _He thought to himself, but wasn't exactly unfamiliar with dreams that seemed real. Considering that this one was so pleasant and lovely, Six decided to play along, "Six." He answered while clutching his key again. "Six," Two repeated with the same smile, "A very good name indeed!" That's when he suddenly stopped.

As he straightened, the bulbs moved almost like ears sensing for sound, even though they were clearly attached to the hat. His optics scanned the surrounding area in a fearful fashion and Six began to feel uneasy, "Two?" The older male finally looked back with a smile, abruptly shifting, "How would you like to accompany me to a tea party?" He suddenly suggested and Six immediately perked. He wasn't sure what a tea party was, but it certainly sounded fun enough, being a party which was supposed to be some sort of celebration. "I can come?"

Two nodded, "Of course, of course! I am heading to the Hatter's right now for such. But we have to hurry or we'll be late." He linked an arm around Six pleasantly and Six only partially noticed that he kept looking around as though he was paranoid of something occurring. Almost as though he was keeping watch for something. Six tried not to worry about it as Two led him down the road, occasionally addressing his map, while the Artist stared at the surroundings.

As they approached a small grove of trees, full of orange leaves and topped with rounded purple fruits, Six thought to himself, _"If I drew this, the others would have to pay attention." _Then his mind changed, _"I never said I was leaving… They won't notice. They won't notice until hours from now. I can stay here for a while, then I can take them something home and show that I was here the entire time… but how do I go back up the tunnel? Does Two know?" _

Before he could ask, Two abruptly stopped, "There should be a river beyond here some ways. We'll have to prepare a boat and cross it; it's in the direction of the Hatter's… Here." He smiled and folded the map before putting it in a small bag on his pack, "Why don't you explore and I'll begin to work?" Six felt a pang of distress; as usual, the others, or Two, didn't want his assistance because they knew that he would fail at anything they asked him for. He tried to pry, "But… But I could help."

He pointed out and Two waved it off, "Ah, there's no reason for both of us to tire ourselves. Why don't you just keep a lookout for anything nearby? We should… We should hurry or we'll be late." His voice seemed to diminish and Six knew something was clearly wrong. He decided not to press, though, as he was afraid he would aggravate the older male. Instead he looked around for something to do. The white rabbit began to address some short, wide trees while Six focused on the tree from before that he spotted nearby.

His optics focused on the fruit high in the orange tree. He decided that he could take one back to the others to prove that he had been here. As such, he approached the base of the tree and stared upwards at the hanging fruit at the top. To get to it he would have to climb and considering that the branches were some ways up he doubted that this would be an easy feat. He jumped upwards a few times struggling to reach. It reminded him of those days in which Eight would decide to bully him and would hold one of his drawings out of reach.

He, in retort, would bounce up and down trying to get the picture back, though he seldom did. It certainly upset him and his mood plummeted once again before he actually managed to get his grasp on the lowest branches. He dangled there for a second before struggling to pull himself upwards, his feet scrambling at the flaky bark of the trunk to get him to the branch. Now closer to the higher branches, it was a little easier to climb upwards. Once he got to the top he was finally able to reach the fruit and grabbed at it.

His fingers dug into the purple flesh and sent dark liquid down his fingers that looked somewhat useable as ink. This interested him and he pulled his hand down before tasting some of the liquid. It was strangely sharper than the liquid before and not very appealing, perhaps the exact opposite to sweet. Still, he needed to bring something home, and he reached to pluck another fruit. That was when he noticed the new view he had sustained and stared outwards through the trees to see the river ahead. It was quite wide and filled with crystal clear, sparkling water.

That wasn't the only odd thing, though. On the opposite bank, standing in the tree line, were two short beings that looked remarkably like the twins. Six blinked at the sight of them and they somehow noticed and waved in sync. They looked a little different than they did back home. They now had lavender fabric with one soft blue hood and one reddish pink, instead of the normal blue kind. They were some ways away, though, so he couldn't notice anything else. That was, until he heard a cry coming from Two, and the surprise sent Six back, off the branch, spiraling to the ground.

He smacked some branches on the way down and landed on a bed of orange leaves, the fruit landing upon him and splitting open, spilling the dark liquid all over his fabric. He quickly scrambled to his feet and ran in the direction of Two's voice. "No- please- you're making a terrible mistake!" The white Rabbit begged in horror as Six pushed through the bushes. He was more than disturbed at what he was witnessing. There stood a group of what he assumed were other Stitchpunks, at least one was, and the other three were flat mechanical things, like Beasts.

They were square shaped and had long claws for hands with wind-up keys upon their backs. The oddest thing was the numbers and symbols on their fronts that resembled playing cards, like the one Five had used to make his bag. There was one that was clearly a Stitchpunk though, the one holding Two up by the back of his vest. A tall Stitchpunk clad in thick crimson armor only held together by brown leather, a helmet blocking his face covered in small holes that looked like rustic hearts.

The shoulder guards and the size were a dead giveaway to Six; this was Eight, or the 'other' Eight, holding Two off the ground. It only occurred to Six then that Two must have known that he was being followed. "Eight-!" His voice broke out before he could control it and he desperately covered his mouth trying to take back what he had revealed. The Guard had already heard him and turned towards the small Artist threateningly. Two seemed to perk at Six and, ignoring Eight, reached upwards for his hat. He yanked it down until it was in his arms.

He unscrewed the bulb from the left 'ear' before calling out, "Take this!" He threw the bulb over and it hit the ground, gaining a small crack on it, "Get it to the tea party! To _him! _Hurry!" Six now suddenly realized that the innocent tea party was some sort of guise, this entire thing was, and he stumbled back. Two was tossed to one of the card guards and Eight turned on him, but Six already made him mind up and grabbed the bulb before spinning around and beginning to run towards the water. He was almost immediately panting in exhaustion and dread as he heard the voice bellow behind him, "Get back here, Freak!"

It certainly sounded like Eight and he decided that he had to get away. He didn't know where the tea party was, but remembered that Two had said past the river, and the next thing Six knew he was throwing himself into the river. If he could keep his head above water in the pool then he could keep his head above water here, and started paddling as desperately as possible. Most of the time he was halfway under the water and had it leaking into his mouth and obstructing his air. He couldn't stop; he had to keep going, and it seemed like forever before he was dragging himself onto the bank on the other side.

Immediately he looked back towards his followers. He had made a great call as because of their heavy armor the guards clearly couldn't follow behind him as they were sure to sink. Now Six addressed the bulb in his hands and noticed something strange. It almost looked like there was something inside. As cautiously as possible, he broke the bulb open in his hands and let what was inside drop out. It was a small piece of soggy paper that Six was careful not to tear of he opened.

There, inside, Two had written a single message that he needed to be taken to the Hatter, Six understood this now, but felt dread as he read the words inside.

"The King of Hearts has lost his head."

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**Mable: It may be starting a bit slow, but, well… please keep reading and if you enjoyed then please review. There may be a few inconsistencies with the Alice in Wonderland original story, but that's on purpose as I was trying to make it somewhat original… The next chapter will be posted in a few days! I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	2. The Way the Cat Grins

**Mable: Here's chapter two! I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Two: The Way the Cat Grins_

Six looked up from the wet message and looked across the river at the Guard who was now speaking to his followers. Something about the message, that Two had wanted to give to the Hatter, meant something that not even Six understood, but he had now become a target. This was too much for him and yet at the same time Six knew he had to give the message. Since birth, his job was to sort the nightmares and what they meant so that he could guide the others, and that didn't change even though he was in the strange world that only partially resembled his own.

His legs were shaky as he stood up. _"Why don't I wake up?" _he asked himself, _"It acts like a dream, but I can't wake up, and I feel… I feel like I'm in control." _He looked at the paper again before reaching down and moving his key so that he could open his front. Then he put the paper inside himself; even if he lost it he assumed that he could remember the message. "The King of Hearts lost his head…" Six murmured before he looked to the Guards again, "They're cards… And they have hearts…" He pieced it together, _"Are they following the King of Hearts? Did he send them to get Two?"_

This all was so strange and seemed too large for little Six to deal with alone. However, he had no choice, and he turned to the tree line before heading towards the bushes surrounding it to hide from the view of Eight and the others. They could eventually find a way across and Six wanted to be free and clear of the area before that happened. He stepped into the bushes and was immediately taken by how sharp and strong they were. Covered in barbs and refusing to move, he found himself having to kneel and wedge himself under the bushes instead of going directly through as planned.

He drug himself through the dirt with his soaked fabric causing anything below to turn to muck instead of its previous firmness. Eventually he managed to get through and poked his head out only to be met by another face. He cried out in surprise and jumped back against the thicket of thorns that made it their goal to wrap into his yarn locks and not let go. The Stitchpunk before him was one of the twins and he soon noticed the other one beside it. From here he could see them much more clearly.

The blue fabric on their bodies were, as spotted earlier, lavender with light yellow striped down them. The closest one had the light maroon hood and the other had the light blue. There was also something else noticeable; on their fronts instead of numbers were cursive prints of the word 'Dee' on the maroon one and 'Dum' on the blue one. He couldn't exactly tell which twin would represent which number, though, and merely assumed that maybe 'Dee' was closer to 'Three' while 'Four' and 'Dum' shared the same letter. Though he wasn't sure. "Hello." He greeted meekly, "Have you seen the- Oh…"

He cut off as the one labelled Dee began to pick the briars out of his yarn, "Thank you." He quietly murmured and the other smiled. Then the oddest thing yet occurred; she spoke. As the twins were usually mute it was quite a change in pace. They weren't exactly using words though and instead made light chattering noises that almost sounded like giggles. After getting free he managed to stand while the smaller two chattered to each other, gesturing to Six occasionally, and the Artist spoke, "I'm… I'm Six. Are you two Dee and Dum?"

He pointed to their fronts and they nodded before Dum spun around and showed its back, where 'Tweedle' was written in the same cursive. Then Dum pointed to its own front; being Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee. "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum…" Six stated and they both nodded happily. Then, suddenly, Dee reached into its front and revealed a small white button. Dee then made soft chirping noises once again before hiding the button behind it, both hands back with it. It then revealed the hand once again, this time missing the button, before revealing the other hand with the button.

After a few repeated instances of this, Dee revealed both hands without the button, and only then did Dum reveal that now it was holding the button. Apparently it was some sort of game of 'find the button' that they wanted Six to participate in with. Six would usually be more than willing to play with the twins, they didn't frequently ask him to back from home because he would always be drawing and they didn't know if he would mind being disturbed or not. Of course, if anyone asked then Six would be more than willing to agree to participate.

Either way, he was a bit busy at the moment, and instead had to turn down the offer, "I have to find the Hatter." He said apologetically, "Do you know how to find him?" The two twins perked and looked at one another quizzically, their voices releasing the crackling giggles together, and then they began to smile. Apparently they knew where he was and Six was more than willing to follow behind. They led him into the trees and into the beginning of the woods, which stood with tall trees. Small, glowing mushrooms lined the moss at the bottom of the trees, alight with a blue light.

Considering the fact that the trees above slowly began to close in with thick green leaves it was good that they had some sort of remaining light coming from somewhere. There was a problem that soon hit Six as he watched the twins trying to sort their way through the woods. It was at a small pond that finally he noticed outright what was occurring. The twins' quickened chattering, the weird looks of annoyance; they were fighting about which was to go. It was only when they arrived at the pond did it finally break out into something more obvious.

One twin pointed one way, the other pointed the other, and neither were willing to budge. When this happened Six was soon stuck at a standstill and ended up sitting down beside the pond as he waited for them to make up their mind. They eventually did so and they walked a short way before they stopped again. This continued a while later until they finally arrived somewhere. This time it was a building that looked like a rundown shack, almost like something that would be seen in the Emptiness, and Six seemed to be the only one who noticed it as the twins were bickering again.

The Artist slowly crept up to the house and stared at the front where he could see movement behind one of the half broken windows. His mismatched optics focused before suddenly something black burst out of the window. Six stumbled back in surprise as the creature flew through the air, cawing majestically. It was clearly some kind of bird, like the one Seven's helmet was made of, but much smaller and covered in sleek, black feathers. It flew over the twins who looked upwards in surprise and both made equally fearful shrieking noises before ducking.

The bird apparently frightened them and Six crossed over to them. As there was no Seven or Five here to comfort them, he spoke, "It's okay, it's only a bird," He looked upwards at the creature and watched as it disappeared through the trees, "and now it's gone." They both looked up silently before a sharp noise hit all of their audio receptors. The Tweedles covered the sides of their head as Six looked back at the house. There, at the window, was a large, sharp set of claws, slowly dragging back inside and across the glass.

It was the sharpness blades across the glass that made the noise before they retracted into the window altogether. It was certainly unnerving, but it didn't change the fact that Six needed to go inside and see if the Hatter lived here, as he had not gotten a straight answer from the twins. Even if it wasn't the case; he could still ask for directions and end the younger ones' feud. He slowly approached the door, one foot inching forward in a steady pace, but he was soon stopped by Tweedle Dum who shook its head in desperate begging while Tweedle Dee watched with hands covering its mouth in horror.

"I…I have to check. To ask for directions." Six pointed out before continuing on. The front steps of the house creaked in protest as Six stepped onto the porch. Suddenly all he could hear was his own labored breathing as he looked upwards at the home. It almost looked like a wooden palace, or like it used to have been one and now fell apart during age. There was a low noise that suddenly began and sounded like vibrations through the wall. Looking over towards the window he couldn't see anything, but the hum, the purr, continued to come through.

Eventually Six gave in and knocked at the door. There was a rustling behind him and he looked back just in time to see the twins leap behind some bushes and seemingly vanish, _"I'll be out quickly. Then I'll find them." _He looked back to the door once again and started to knock again. Instead of an answer, there was a loud crashing noise from inside like something was breaking that was made of glass. He flinched back and clutched his key tightly as he stared at the door. Then he reached ahead and tried the door only to have it open immediately.

It wasn't locked, it wasn't even shut all the way, and he slowly pushed it open before hearing a voice shriek. "Burnt again! Burnt again! Always burnt! Always fried! _Never good enough!_" It was a female voice that sounded so shrill that it was almost as bad as the claws on glass. The female panted a bit before growling, "Needs… Needs more… Hmm, pepper." The smell in the house was strong and caught in Six's throat in a way that made him cough uncomfortably. Unfortunately, this caught the attention of the female, "Whose there?"

Six didn't answer and a plate flew across the room and smashed against the wall. White china pieces fell to the floor by a mix of other broken dishes, "_Who is it?!" _He straightened abruptly and peeked around the door, "I'm sorry! I was just- just trying to-!" The female was tall, taller than Six, and clothed in a long dress that trailed along the ground like a tail. At her wrists it stopped and revealed two hands, both of which had sharp needles for fingers and one holding a long, wooden spoon.

The dress had a large, outward protruding collar that seemed to shield her face completely while she wore a headdress that resembled something One would wear, her red yarn hair wrapped into it and holding it in place. Six remembered back to Two mentioning a 'Duchess', but this creature before him looked little like a Duchess and much more like a Seamstress. He suddenly decided that he wanted to leave, immediately, but by now she spotted him and apparently changed tone immediately. "Oh, company! Come in! Sit down!"

She was by his side in a second, wrapping herself around his right arm while kicking the door closed, "I've not had the blessing of a visitor since last Tuesday. Poor thing, you look famished, doesn't he, Cheshire?" She looked over into the kitchen that she had been. There was a large pot hanging over the fire, bubbling with liquid that smelled foul, and beside it rested some sort of cat stretched across the stone floor. It didn't look exactly like a cat, though. It had some Stitchpunk features and along with its long frame there was a cat skull residing on its head like Seven's bird skull.

It stared at him, smiling wide underneath the skull, oval optics unblinking as they eyed him. Needless to say, Six was very uncomfortable, but was soon sat down at a small table on a chair that seemed much too tall for the little table before him. The Duchess stroked his arm before turning towards the pot once again, "Dinner will be finished shortly." She chimed before approaching the pot and putting the spoon into it. The pot was filled with some sort of stew and as she lifted the spoon it revealed what used to be some sort of vegetable that was now blackened and shriveled.

Six didn't even think that could happen to something in a body of water and winced at seeing it, not wanting to put it in his mouth. Then she lifted it to her own mouth, stitched over with red thread and only allowed her a little room to move her mouth freely. She tasted the dark liquid and hummed as she let the vegetable fall back in the pot to join the others. "Not finished," She muttered, "Needs pepper. Yes, more pepper, right Cheshire?" The cat didn't answer, but Six could now tell that the vibrating noise was purring coming from his depths.

Six could see the Duchess lift an overly large grinder in her hands that Six assumed held this 'pepper' before looking back to the cat who had seemed to move even closer in the short second. Six wanted to leave and assumed that he could find the Hatter on his own, that he didn't very well need to be here. At that moment the shaker was slammed down on the wooden counter and the Duchess' needle fingers clawed at it. "All gone… It's all gone." She spoke lowly and Six went to speak before she suddenly threw the pepper grinder across the room, it shattering a nearby window.

Six ducked under the table and threw his hands over his head to shield himself, now knowing how the windows were broken. "_It's all gone!" _She shrieked as she reached not for the closest item and grabbing a glass that she threw across the room, "All I want to do is make something nice, but how can I do that if there's no pepper?! Why are we _always_running out of pepper?!" She continued to throw quite the tantrum, tossing pots and pans, yelling in shrill cries, and storming about the room raving, "And I have no more pepper! How can I finish without pepper?! It needs pepper!"

The chair that Six was previously in was shoved over and crashed to the floor before she clutched her headdress in frustration. The she started throwing open cabinets, pulling anything inside out and letting it fall worthless against the floor below. Then, finally, one cabinet was opened and Six was relieved to see it was full of pepper grinders. He didn't know why she needed so many but it seemed that now that she had it she would calm down. The Duchess stared at the pepper grinders before slowly grabbing one and shaking it, listening to see if she could hear the pepper.

When she did she returned to her kindly tone from before, "Found some!" She piped in before crossing back to the pot and beginning to turn the crank. Black powder came out in a rush, perhaps more than supposed to be, and she cranked more and more. The smell was the same choking scent and Six found himself coughing lightly. The Duchess began to hum, the cat purred, and Six decided to speak, "I'm trying to find my way to the Hatter." He spoke meekly and the female gasped dramatically, "Oh no, dear, you can't leave yet! Dinner isn't even done! We haven't even added the final ingredient…"

She cut off before looking over toward Six, optics staring straight at the striped male, but Six could barely see the widened pupils as she softly purred, "You have such lovely fabric…" Six didn't like how that comment came right after the mention of the ingredient and clutched his key harder before speaking meekly, "But… but the-." He cut off and corrected, "I can't eat yet." Then paused before speaking, "I need to… Go for a run first. That makes me want to eat." He stood from the table, "I'll go run while you finish." The Duchess seemed to buy this well enough. "Be back soon, Dear."

She waved her needle fingers at him and he forced a smile before walking towards the front door, trying to hide that he was on the verge of running right now, and finally getting to the door and stepping out. He closed the door behind him and then turned towards the woods and began to sprint. He only stopped once in the trees because he managed to remember that he was not alone. "Tweedles?" He spoke, "Dee? Dum?" There was no response and he looked around through the trees. Even the bushes that they had hid behind now blocked nothing.

This immediately worried Six; he wondered if the Duchess had somehow gotten ahold of them. This was a terrifying thought and he started looking around desperately. "They already took off, Doll." A voice purred out and Six jumped a bit in surprise at the sudden sound. After all, he had been basically fleeing the Duchess, and he backed against the tree behind him in alarm. His mismatched optics scanned the surroundings and a voice spoke, "Up here."

The Artist slowly looked upwards until his mismatched optics latched on a cat skull hanging out from the tree above him. He stumbled out from underneath the tree and stared upwards to see the cat perched in it, still grinning as though he was amused, and Six blinked in confusion as he grabbed his key once again. "The twins?" The cat nodded and rolled onto its back, one leg lazily dangling odd, "They're a little skittish. Left as soon as you went in, but that's for the best, eh? You've already got your own problems, don't you?"

Six looked away quietly and the Cheshire cat added, "You're a mad one, aren't you?" Six's optics widened and he looked forward, "I… How did you know?" Six wasn't going to deny it; the others thought he was made, he saw things in his nightmares, and there was no point in arguing with it. "You're in the asylum, Stripes, we're all mad around here." The cat merely respond before crackling with a tone that almost sounded mechanical, "So you're out here looking for the Hatter? Should have known. You look flustered enough to be a friend of his."

With that, the cat suddenly began to dissipate and Six was quite taken aback. At first he thought it was a trick of the light, but his feet had vanished and was slowly stretching towards his legs, and Six focused his voice, "T-The… The Hatter… Do you know where the Hatter is?" There was no answer and the Cheshire cat eventually dissipated completely. Six just stared at the tree branch after him, trying to figure out where he could have gone, and then, suddenly, the cat's voice returned, "Why would you want to go there?"

The question was a curious one and Six looked back to see that the cat had now moved and was standing beside the bushes, awkwardly crouched on all fours as he stared inside it. After a few seconds a claw dragged around the ground as his optics scanned at something that Six couldn't see. "I have a message I have to give him. I don't know how to get there because I… I don't live here. I just got here." The Cheshire cat spoke lowly, "Wonderland. You're in Wonderland's vast asylum." He pointed out before suddenly punching forward, claws going through the brambles.

Six watched as the bird from before burst through the thorns and began flying away through the air. The cat growled before leaping after it, but once noticing that the bird was too far he merely decided to let it go. He now stood upwards like a normal Stitchpunk and casually leaned against the nearest tree, "So you've come down here to deliver a message? What kind of message? Whatever's out there wanting to come down here?" Six shook his head, "No. I followed someone down and he gave me the message. His name was Two."

Now the Cheshire Cat perked, "The White Rabbit? Heard that the King wanted his head on a pike, glad to hear he made it out in one piece." Six blinked at the mention and pried further, "The message was about the King of Hearts. Why does he want Two?" There was no answer and the cat stretched out in relaxation against the tree. He simply waited there passively, not speaking, and then gave Six another wide smile before abruptly vanishing. This time he didn't waste his time and Six looked around to see where he would appear.

For about twenty seconds the cat wasn't visible and eventually Six guessed that he was not coming back. With this, he slumped a bit and started to head back towards the bushes in hope that he could find the twins again. Before he could, the cat spoke again, "And Stripes?" He looked back to see the cat standing by the Duchess' door now with the same cocky look, "The Hatter is back," He thumbed to the right of the shack, "that way. You might want to hurry; If you're doing something for the Rabbit then I'm guessed that the king's going to come for your head too. You better watch your back."

This time he opened the door and entered the shack, disappearing from sight without vanishing, and Six could already hear the Duchess screaming about something else from inside. The Artist smiled at the fact that he now knew where the Hatter was and headed in the direction suggested. After a few minutes of trees he was soon in a more open area, yet another meadow or field, this one much more vibrant than the last and filled with many more, taller flowers. His optics looked over them with interest as he continued along, walking on an area of grass that was barren like a path.

He could hear soft whispers through the flowers and blinked in confusion; it was almost as though they were speaking. It didn't become bluntly obvious until a small, squeaking voice shrieked, "Don't step on me!" Looking down he was alarmed to see a small, yellow flower dangerously close to his foot. When he stepped away it spoke again, "Thank you." Then went quiet once again. It had no facial features so Six was confused at how it spoke in the first place. It was then when he noticed something ahead; a couple of large houses in the distance.

They were arranged together like a small town and looked almost like the ones in the Emptiness except that they were completely put together and painted in bright colors. He quickly shuffled around the flowers and headed into the cobblestone streets between the houses. It was much lovelier than the Emptiness; even tall lamps lined the streets of black metal that were currently unlit because it was the middle of the day. His head stared upwards at the towering buildings until he even managed to trip over himself a few times.

It was all so elegant, so quaint, so lively and living. He could see one Stitchpunk through a large glass window who was cutting up some sort of hunk of flesh. At first it unnerved Six before he looked at a sign hanging beside the window. "The Butcher…" He headed to the next house where he could see many chimneys on the top spilling smoke and read the sign, "The Baker…" The last one had many different kinds of empty lamps hanging outside while hundreds of candles waited in the windows, "The Candlestick maker…" He skipped a few houses until one caught his attention.

This one was colored a golden color and was located between 'The Tailor' and someone called 'The March Hare', but what was most interesting was the noise coming from behind. Laughter echoed around the house that sounded so familiar that Six couldn't help but be interested, but that was nothing compared to when he noticed the sign out front. "The Hatter…" His pupils widened, "The Hatter!" His mouth broke out into a smile and he went upwards and knocked on the door a few times.

To his dismay, there was no answer, but that didn't stop Six who looked around the house and managed to find a gate. He took a deep breath and pulled at the handle, ready to deliver his message.

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**Mable: The next chapter will be posted in a day or so, whenever I can get it finished. I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	3. Tea Parties and Test Subjects

**Mable: Here's the newest chapter! I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Three: Tea Parties and Test Subjects_

The cream colored gate creaked open and Six poked his head through to see what lay beyond. From the angle he couldn't see any more than the edge of a table and slowly had to creep farther along to see more. The table revealed itself as much larger than expecting, stretching across the fenced in back yard and resting on the vibrant green grass. It was topped with a white tablecloth and covered in various teapots and plates. Six had seen teapots before, but knew little about actual tea, but assumed that this was the tea party.

There was only two people crammed together at one side of the table together. It was clear who the two were, the one sitting and laughing while the other was now standing and describing something with vigorous hand gestures. The one sitting down wore a tall top hat and an overcoat that matched the vibrant gold of the house, two buttons poking through that Six doubted belonged on the actual jacket and more to the Stitchpunk wearing it. There was a pinned tag on his hat that revealed his own number.

"Five…" Six murmured as he watched him pour some brown liquid from the teapot into the teacup before him. Six then looked to the other male. He wore a hat that resembled Two's, but was smaller, and the bulbs were tinted a copper cover while being pointed somewhat back. He was wearing a short, brown vest that looked made of some kind of fur, and Six could see some sort of puff on his lower back. It was obvious, though, that the laughing Stitchpunk was also familiar, "Nine… They're both here too." He added in with his thoughts, _"They probably don't remember me either."_

He slowly crept forward, "Umm…" At this both set of optics, one lack a full set, looked to the striped Stitchpunk who suddenly felt like he was being put on display. Thankfully, the two seemed to quickly regain compositor, "Hey!" 'Nine' greeted as he sat down onto the chair once again and 'Five' spoke now, "Welcome to the party!" He looked at the many set places before pausing, then looked up, "Sorry for the lack of room." He pointed out in a joking manner and Six smiled before coming forward, "Are you the Hatter?" The other nodded, "I am, but I'm off work today. We're celebrating."

The Artist blinked and came closer to the table, looking at all the treats spread out upon it. He didn't know what the pastries or sweets were, but he could smell them from there and they smelled great. "Is it a birthday?" He asked; the twins had been the ones to introduce celebrating Stitchpunks' birthdays and frequently in the Library they had begun to do so. The two seemed a little confused and Five paused, "Well…" Nine interrupted with a playful smile, "It's an unbirthday. A day that isn't a birthday." This confused Six, "But that would be everyday, right?"

"Then we get more time to celebrate." Nine added in with a friendly smile, "I'm Nine, but most people call me the March Hare, and this," He lifted an overly large teapot that was placed upside down to reveal a small Beast, an actual mechanical Beast that looked like a spider "is my pet. We call her 'Dormouse' because she squeaks." As to punctuate the point, the small creature added in with a soft chirping noise, and Six smiled. "Here," Five suddenly leapt up from his seat, "We'll move down and around so that we can sit together." His lifted all of his things and balanced them before moving them to Nine's previous seat.

Nine merely sat in the new seat at the end and took over the new and clean cup before him, patting the seat beside him for Six to sit. The Artist was more than glad to do so as he was a bit tired and wanted to rest his legs for a while. Thankfully, it was a comfortable wicker chair that caressed his aching curves, and he collapsed back into it. Five immediately made himself busy, "Tea?" Six answered, "Okay. Thank you." They were so attentive to him that it made him feel wanted in a way he barely felt in the past. Five poured the brown liquid into his cup and Six watched as steam rose.

"Sugar?" Five offered and Six again responded with, "Okay." A small square of white was scooped out of a bowl and dropped into the cup. "Cream?" Five asked lifting a smaller cup with a spout and lid, matching the saffron color of the plates and teacups. Six nodded again and a little white liquid was poured into his tea. Five then lifted a small pot, "Honey?" Again Six nodded and now was beginning to notice a pattern. A spoon was used to fish out some golden, thick syrup and dropped into the tea. Then Five asked again, "Lemon slice?"

"Five, _Five_, you're doing it again." Nine pointed out as though he was knocking Five out of a trance. The Hatter blinked his optic in realization, "I got a little carried away, sorry…. At least nobody was hurt." He added to lighten the mood and Nine chuckled at this while Six smiled. He then looked down at his tea before reaching forward and cupping the porcelain in his hands. He watched them out of the corner of his optics and tried to make sure that he wasn't doing anything strange that they would notice. He then lifted it to his lips and took a sip.

It was still warm, but pleasantly sweet from all the added ingredients, and thankfully didn't make Six shrink or anything like it. He pulled the cup away and gave a thankful smile, "I like it. I haven't had tea before." He hadn't ever been this social before either, but Wonderland had changed many things, and some of them for the better. Five and Nine both seemed surprised, "Never had tea?" Nine asked, "Huh, I didn't think that was possible. We drink a lot of tea around here." Five then lifted a plate, "Scone?" Nine gave Five a weird look and the other male retorted, "I'm not doing it again."

Six looked at the small pastries before taking one, "I haven't had these either…" He wasn't sure how to eat when his mouth ended with fabric. He still tried and bit into it before chewing it. The flavor was delicious and, strangely, the pastry seemed to dissipate in his mouth and after chewing it long enough it merely melted away. "It's Raspluerberry." Five pointed out before setting the plate between them, "But scones are common. I guess you don't live here?" Six shook his head as he chewed another bite, "I'm from-," He paused then pointed upwards, "Up there."

Nine and Five's optics both rolled upwards and Nine asked, "Up where?" Six started to explain before stopping and deciding to instead try a different tactic, "Someone told me to come here and give you a message, Five. It was Two." Five immediately perked in surprise, "Two? He did?... How do you know my name?" Six paused with his mouth agape before Nine answered, "He heard me say it a few minutes ago. It's better than just calling you 'Hatter'."

Then he looked to Six, "People around here tend to give people titles and obsessively call them that title repeatedly." The March Hare explained before lifting his cup until he realized it was empty. He reached for the teapot to pour him so more as Five chuckled almost nervously, "Oh, yeah, sorry…" He looked to his own cup and swirled the tea around, "So… So you saw Two? I was wondering where he was. He… He was supposed to come for tea today, but never came." Six felt his face contort in sadness as he remembered Two's fate.

Now he remembered the true pressing situation and spoke desperately, "Two was taken by Ei-… By a large Guard wearing red armor." Five's optic widened and Nine dropped the tea pot, it falling over and spilling everywhere. He was quick to clean it with a napkin while Five stared at Six intently. Six continued, "He gave me a paper to give you, but it got wet when I was escaping. But it said 'The King of Hearts has lost his head'." Five gasped in alarm and Nine looked up from his spill, "That can't be good." He noted and Five began to hyperventilate a bit as Six looked to them both, "Do you know what's happening?"

Nine looked a little unsure, but tried to explain, "The King of Hearts and Two know each other well. Two even works for him and they're pretty close. Those guards you're describing, were there ones that looked like cards?" Six nodded vigorously. "Those are the card guards for the King of Hearts. Two's been quiet recently and him suddenly wanting to come tell us this, and the guards getting him, this means something is wrong. Someone 'losing their head' usually means they lost their mind and with everything- Hold on."

He then suddenly brought his hand down on Five's back and began to shake him, "Five, breathe." He commanded and the Healer managed to calm himself and put his hand up, "I'm alright. I'm okay." Then he looked over at the Artist, "Where did they take him?" Six shook his head, "I don't know… He told me to find you, I don't know." Five exhaled calmly and Nine asked, "But what does this all mean?" Five's head turned to Nine, "Something's wrong with the King and Two wanted to tell us… He's probably already taken two back to his castle for some reason."

He became terrified, "What if he's locked away for some reason?" Nine put his hands up in defense, "Calm down. The King sees Two as one of his closest advisors. He wouldn't hurt him, but he has to be hiding something if he's keeping Two from getting here." Nine looked to Six, "Did Two say anything else?" The Artist was somewhat ashamed as he shook his head slowly. The other two were clearly distressed so Five spoke, "Maybe… Maybe we should try find out more. Two has a house in town that he uses when he's not bedding with the King. Maybe there will be something there."

This seemed like the best idea and Nine nodded as well before grabbing the tea pot off of Dormouse, "Dormy, head home. I'll be back later." The little creature silently agreed and rubbed against his arm, he gave her a healthy pat, and then headed off towards the fence where it climbed into the green house's yard. "It could be dangerous. I don't want to risk her getting hurt when she's in her current state." Six raised a brow and Nine added in, "She's going to have young soon. It's too risky for her to come." The Artist seemed to recognize having young as being important, knowing a little about young children.

"I don't think it'll be too dangerous." Five pointed out as he circled the table and headed to his back door, "We're just heading to Two's house. It's right up the hill, not even out of town." Though Six noticed the contradiction when Five promptly grabbed his bag. It was fully of needles as it was normally, but there were also bundles of tightly wrapped and colorful fabric poking out as well. Six clearly saw that Five grabbed his harpoon as well and hung it on his bag as well, swinging both over his shoulders. He was almost like normal Five and Nine stood as well before crossing over to his friend.

Six watched them before meekly slumping a bit. Once they left he would be alone and wouldn't know what to do anymore. He couldn't climb back up the hole alone and he wouldn't know where to go if the Guard who looked like Eight returned. His questioned were silenced when Five arrived at the gate and Nine peered back at Six, "You're coming too, right?" Immediately the Artist stood, ignoring his body's protesting, and scurried after them with a thankful smile. The normal Nine and Five probably wouldn't have invited him out of fear that Six would get hurt so he was glad to be included.

They headed out into the street again where Five led the way, Nine following behind, and Six in the back looking around. Now he suddenly felt paranoid as Two had been, especially knowing that the ruler himself was after him with his Guards. At the end of the street, Five passed into a gated garden that led back towards a large house. This one only looked two stories, but had the mark of two, with some sort of generator clinging to the side and a large spyglass peeking out of the second floor window.

It was obstructed from the rest of the town by the small garden that was filled with a slew of blue and red flowers and, closer to the house, turned into some sort of vegetable garden. Six couldn't recognize vegetables well, but clearly noticed that they, and the plants, were bright and healthy. Finally the front door was revealed and was surrounded by thick ivy that grew along the walls. Five went to knock, but stopped himself, "I guess he won't be home…" He murmured before kneeling down.

A small mat laid on the ground that said 'Welcome Home' on it and Five lifted it to reveal a key beneath. It was a golden color and he soon used it on the front door which opened into the house. The interior was lovely with blue wallpaper covered in symbols that Six had seen once before in a book of the twins' called fleur-de-lis symbols. There was a small dining room table set for four people in a circle an open entranceway that Six could see a kitchen inside of.

There was two closed doors that Six couldn't see past and across from the kitchen there was another open room with a clean, stone fireplace and a few couches and sofas placed around, also into soft blue colors. The many small windows were covered in cream colored curtains as well. It looked like something Two would put together and Five immediately headed to one of the doors, "His study is in here. If anything, it should be in here, or maybe the bedroom." Six, wanting to be helpful, spoke, "I can check the bedroom." He offered.

The bedroom seemed easier to check than a study and Five smiled a little, thankfully, "Thanks. It's upstairs." He pointed to the set of stairs in the back and Six approached it as Nine followed the Hatter into the study. The stairs were small and made of finely polished wood while the steps were lined in an indigo rug that led all the way to the second floor. Six checked the closest door at the top of the steps and was met with a large bedroom. Against the wall beside the door was a large bed with a canopy, again in blue, with a small table beside it topped in a tiny box.

There was also the telescope in the room and a small desk stacked with writings. Six looked through them, but unfortunately found that they were only relaying to astronomy and nothing else. Downstairs, though, Nine and Five were finding other things at the larger desk and cabinets in the study. There was a pattern of recently written papers that seemed to mention medical symptoms and such, "Look," Five pointed out, "he dated these. These were only a few days ago, but they're about illnesses."

This didn't concern the March Hare, "But Two works as a doctor sometimes. Shouldn't that be normal?" The Hatter shook his head slowly, "No… Not like this. He's writing down symptoms and…" His head shot upwards, "Do you think he was ill? Do you think maybe the King wants to quarantine him and Two's trying to warn us, because…" It seemed a little farfetched, but at the same time seemed a little believable, so Five didn't know what to think about this. Nine looked at another paper and noticed something odd, "Two wrote here that… Look, it says that he knows 'he's' coming for him. Think he means- Ah!"

Nine suddenly cried out as a hand clasped around his collar and yanked it back. A hand on Five's bag put him in the same fate and they both looked back in dread to see the looming figure of the King's Guard, the one that Five recognized as being captain of the Guards, who was unfortunately Eight. Through his helmet he could still give a threatening gaze. "Where is he?" He growled with the same dark tone and Five stuttered before Nine spoke, "Where's who? Two? We don't know. That's why we're looking." He hoped the story would buy the Guard over, but unfortunately it didn't work.

"The striped one. There's no point trying to hide him, I know he's here." Unfortunately for Six himself, who had heard the commotion and crept down the stairs nearby, Eight burst out of the study with Nine and Five in each hand. Upon the sight of Six he tossed the two Stitchpunks down to the floor. His focus immediately went to the Artist who soon realized that now card guards were starting to enter from the front. Before Eight could get to Six, the striped one dashed up the stairs and into Two's bedroom once again, shutting the door tight and locking the latch on the knob.

Then he fell against the door as he frantically looked around for some way to escape. _"It's happening again! He's taken Two and now Nine and Five and now he wants me!" _ his body trembled a bit as he heard Eight's thudding footsteps on the steps. That was when Six noticed the small box on the bedside table because it was right beside him. He immediately opened the small box and gasped to see that, inside, there were a group of small pink puffs that he assumed were some sort of candies, and on them were written in white icing 'Eat me'.

Like the bottle that has said 'drink me' this made Six assume that it would have similar affects. _"Will I get smaller again or bigger?" _He thought to himself as he heard the Guard at the door, turning the doorknob and failing to get inside. Six knew Eight, though, and as predicted the Guard started braying on the door, "Don't make this harder on yourself! Open the door!" The only reason Eight was ever this determined in the normal world was because he was under orders; Eight didn't tend to get this worked up for no reason.

Even if things were different here Six was guessing that Eight had to be under the King's orders. However, he knew he needed to worry about the present and looked back to the pastries again before grabbing one and gnawing into it. He wasn't careful and he didn't ration, especially since it tasted delicious. It melted away like the scone and he went to grab another one. As he started to he was interrupted by the door banging open and he ripped his hands back, the box toppling over and the candies spilling across the floor.

Eight was immediately starting to come towards him and Six backed away cautiously, "Don't! I didn't do anything!" He desperately begged, unsure what was planned for him but before he could say anything else his body began to react. His body was twitching, his hands felt wrong, and then suddenly the world was shifting once again. This time he wasn't shrinking, though, he was growing, and his body was changing in disturbing ways. He covered his eyes with his hands in desperation to shake the feeling of dizziness until his head suddenly struck the ceiling.

Everything felt wrong as his body stretched out before him, now having to sit instead of stand. He managed to look at Eight through his transformation and saw that the male was backing away, "What the-…?" Eight asked quietly as he stopped in the entranceway. Six, out of fear, reared back his foot and sent it into Eight, pushing him out of the door. Though as he did so Six noticed that something was wrong with his foot. He was now wearing some sort of shoe over his foot and as he pulled it back he noticed even more.

On his legs were pants, a dark grey color, and matched the shirt he now wore that had the same color in vertical stripes along it. Then he saw his hands and he saw the full extent of his change. Instead of his normal, sharp hands that were perfect for drawing, were pale hands that resembled a human's. He hadn't gotten bigger; he had turned into a human. His eyes went to the door as he noticed Five and Nine stumble in, apparently managing to get away from the guards while Five was firing down the stairs, not exactly aiming and more doing so to scare the other off.

Then they slammed the bedroom door and headed over to the closest dresser to move it in front of the door. Once this was done, they noticed Six, and both looked surprised. "Six!" Nine choked out in disbelief, "You're a human!" The Artist was beginning to breathe quickly as his pulse raced, "I-I didn't mean to! I thought it would- the candies- I thought they'd help!" Five looked over to the box now spilled across the ground, optic widening, "Two sometimes makes… Food and drink that does weird things, like make Stitchpunks humans I guess…"

This explained the bottle in the room of doors that had made Six small; Two must have used it to get back into Wonderland and merely left it behind not thinking. This didn't explain how to fix him again, though, and he was frantic as he clutched his hair which was now no longer yarn. "I can't stay like this!" He frantically pointed out as some knocking came on the door through the dresser. Six decided to manipulate his new foot to plant itself over the dresser and door to keep the others out.

Five looked over the box before perking, "This symbol on the bottom; Two uses them to list and mark his work. There may be an antidote in his potion pantry downstairs with the same mark, or the mark with a cross through it. I'll…" He looked around desperately, "Climb out that window! It's at the back of the house so they may not notice!" He approached the window and lifted it before looking out, only to be stopped by Nine, "Here, I'll go down first.." He offered and Five agreed before pulling a length of thick thread, like a rope, from his bag before lowering it down.

Nine climbed out of the window and slowly started to scale down the outside of the building. Five soon tied the thread to the bedframe and climbed down as well while Six was left alone; human and confused. Though the banging on the door stopped and he could now hear talking so he listened closer. "There's a chimney in there. We'll just send someone down." Six tensed in horror before he heard another Guard's voice, "That's not going to work! Nobody here's small enough to fit down it!"

He was relieved for a good two seconds until, suddenly, another voice spoke, "There's someone outside!" Six's mismatched optics, or mismatched colored eyes, widened in horror as he realized that this had to mean Nine and Five were heard. He had to make a distraction, quickly, and moved his foot back from the door. As his knee jammed into the wall he tried to turn himself around to the door where he moved the dresser easily. He then opened the door and reached his hand, now human, through the door. "Hey! I'm still here!"

He announced as he tried to wiggle his arm down the stairwell. He had to roll halfway onto his back while one foot went into the small fireplace that matched the one from the downstairs. It was incredibly uncomfortable, especially since he was suddenly having things that felt like needles poking at his arm. Looking down through the door he could see a couple of card guards prodding his new flesh with spears. Eight was missing now and Six realized that he must have gone after the other two. His thoughts were interrupted when one of the spears poked too deep and actually hurt.

Six gave a short cry and swung his hand to knock the group of cards back before retreating back into Two's bedroom fully. Now he looked at his torn sleeve and pulled it up to see a tiny cut in his skin. There was a pearl of red liquid already beginning to form and Six was horrified to see it was blood. He knew that humans bled when they were injured, but didn't know how injured they needed to get before they started, and worried if he had gotten stabbed too deep. He went to wipe the blood away and it merely smeared.

Then one of the cards started trying to get into the room and Six was forced to slam the door shut in its face and wait. That was it, he just waited. It took ten minutes of sitting there, wondering if he would be trapped here forever, before suddenly the thread tightened and the March Hare's 'ears' poked through the window. "Here!" He called in a somewhat whispered tone before showing the Artist a bottle in his hand, "Take a drink of this." Then he looked back out the window as though looking to someone, perhaps Five, "Take a small drink."

He corrected and the human immediately took it. "How did you escape?" Nine raised a brow before explaining, "A couple of friends of ours lured him away." He smiled a bit, "They led him away with a game of 'whose got the button'." Six blinked; that sounded a lot like Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. He decided to ask later and lifted the bottle. In his new size, a small drink would be hard to accomplish, and he let a single, small drop fall onto his tongue. The flavor resembled the bottle from the hall of doors and shortly after Six felt his body shifting again.

He was forced to close his optics again as his body tingled. The spot on his arm that was bleeding burned briefly and eventually he was able to open his optics again and reveal the world was normal again. Looking down, he was relieved to see that he had returned to being a Stitchpunk and exhaled in relief. Oddly enough, the cut on his arm was now gone, but he decided to merely let it pass and hurried to stand himself and return to the window. Nine disappeared down the thread again and Six began to climb through as well, back out into the world.

The ordeal was over, but only for now.

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**Mable: The ended a bit rushed, but I wanted to get the chapter posted tonight. The 6 getting big and turning into a human idea was actually part of the request. The next chapter will be up soon. I hope everyone enjoys and if you want to then please review!**


	4. Out to Sea

**Mable: Here's the fourth chapter of 'Sanest in the Asylum'. I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Four: Out to Sea_

The second Six's feet hit the ground, Five was giving him the one over, "Are you okay? Any side effects from the antidote?" Six shook his head quickly and the Hatter was relieved. Now Nine spoke, "Dum and Dee won't be able to keep the Guards gone for long, especially when the ones inside realize that Six is gone. We have to go." The other two agreed and Six followed the two to the fence behind the house. Five helped Nine over by boosting him on his shoulders and then assisted Six. The Artist was next and somewhat surprised when Five lifted him on his shoulders and hoisted him over as well.

The striped one scrambled over and fell to the other side while Nine helped Five over as well. Now free of the guards, the three began walking aimlessly through the trees, and Six spoke, "So the Tweedles got away?" Five nodded, "Yeah. They know the area better than the guards so they probably escaped. The Guards weren't targeting them anyway so they should leave them alone." Then he looked interested, "You met them before?" The Artist smiled at the memory that only took place a while back. "After I got separated from Two. They helped me find my way."

"They can do that." Nine added with a smile before playfully adding in, "When they aren't fussing over which one of them is right, of course." The other two agreed before Nine suddenly perked, "I have an idea about what we can do." Six was more than glad to hear as at the moment they were sort of at a standstill. They found out little at Two's and had no idea where to go next. Nine seemed confident, "We need help and we can't stay here. They know we're working together so our homes aren't safe, but I know someplace that nobody, not even the King of Heart himself, would go."

Five's optic widened in hesitant, "You don't… You don't mean…?" Nine nodded, "I do. We need to go to the Jabberwocky's Domain." Six didn't understand, but Five was quite hesitant. "Nine, I don't know if we should." Nine was persistent, though, "Five, he's the only one in Wonderland whose not going to fear the King of Hearts. It would give us a Sanctuary long enough that we could figure out where to go next." The Hatter looked away and Six spoke softly, "Who's the Jabberwocky?"

He asked innocently and Nine looked to him to explain, "A legendary creature. There's been tales about him for many years and a lot of people fear him, but I know him and I know he'd help us with a little convincing." There had to be a reason that the Hatter was looking so hesitant and Six pried further, "It sounds… Sounds like we should. If he can help us then we need to find him. We need all of the help we can find." Nine smiled at the other's agreeance and Five exhaled, "I guess you're right." He reached into his bag and pulled out a roll of paper that he unrolled and revealed to be a map.

"If we hurry, maybe we can get to Looking Glass Land before sunset." With that, he turned on his heel and started into a random direction, Nine and Six following behind him. This allowed Six to see much more as Wonderland opened for them the second that they had left the town. The scenery was breathtaking, filled with animals and fauna. During the journey they talked about random things, mostly about themselves. "Where I come from," Six was asked about himself and was actually eager to explain more while watching the new surroundings that just happened to be filled with giant mushrooms.

Six had only seen a real mushroom once before and it had been small, but because they were normal sized he was a bit confused by why they were large. He brushed it of quickly because many things in Wonderland had been different, "I'm the Artist and I draw things that I see when I, umm, am inspired?" He tried and Five looked back quizzically, "Do you paint roses, too?" Six wasn't exactly sure why both Five and Two brought painting roses into the conversation, but shrugged a little in a friendly manner, "I think I could. Do you make hats?"

Five looked away from the map, "I do. I was going to open a tea shop long ago, but then I started making hats and realized that I really liked it. Besides, tea would have been hard to grow and harvest, and anyone who needed tea that much will make it themselves I assume. But not everyone can make a hat and because of that I filled a need." Since Five seemed so pleased talking, Six asked a bit more, "What kind of hats do you make?"

Five now became much more vocal and social as he explained, "Any kind that someone wants. I've made top hats, bonnets, headdresses; everyone wants something a little different." Nine now spoke as well, "He made my hat too." Five chimed in, "Two told me what to do. I just helped put it together." The March Hare suddenly got a sly look, "Did he also help you make that velvet hat for that girl last week? If I remember right, you spent all night making sure that it was just perfect."

The Hatter immediately became embarrassed and dismissed it, "It- It wasn't like that! She was just- she told me she couldn't find any good hats anywhere else and she- I just wanted to make it nice." Six found a small smile creeping on his face as well while the Hatter stuck his face back into the map and practically disappeared from the conversation. The striped one, upbeat and still curious, turned to Nine, "The Jabberwocky, can I know more?" Nine immediately perked at this mention and started to explain, "A long time ago, there was a creature that lived on an island to itself, known as the Jabberwocky."

He moved his hands as though to compliment his voice. "It lived alone among the Boojums and the Bandersnatch, creatures that are feared by all, but they feared it instead. The inhabitants of Looking Glass Land feared it greatly and eventually a hero rose from the White Kingdom to smite the Jabberwocky and end the fear they had." Then his voice lowered, "With him he took a weapon that few had wielded before, the only thing that would be able to smite the monster; the Vorpal Blade. A sword that would change under certain commands if given from a lost language that nobody spoke anymore. He headed to the island alone and-."

"And we're here!" Five suddenly announced as he steadily started up a grassy hill that led him out of the mushroom patch. Six immediately became interested and followed him up the hill. Nine ran ahead beside Five and so the Artist's story was cut short for the time being anyway. He planned to ask later and instead climbed the hill to see what was laid out before him. There was Looking Glass Land; a nearly endless expanse of field broken into squares only by small rivers and hedges. It only stopped far to the left where Six could see part of an ocean that gleamed a deep blue.

Far in the distance he could see a large kingdom that seemed to glow lustrously in pristine white. "Is that where we're going?" He asked in wonder and Five smiled to him, "No." Then pointed towards the ocean, "We're going there." Six blinked in confusion and Five reached into his bag before pulling out something small and metal that he stretched out to reveal a spyglass. He briefly looked through it before giving it to Six and aiming it in the right direction. Six stared through and could now see a small town down there as well.

The Hatter smiled as he saw the impressed look before the March Hare spoke, "Let's get going. We still have to find someone with a ship who's willing to take us." Five nodded and started to follow his friend before Six blinked a bit, "A ship?" The others were too excited to get to the town to really pay attention to the Artist, but he didn't mind as he was excited too and tried to keep with their pace as they headed down the hill towards the fishing village. Inside the village Six was met with awe; it was nothing like the last town that Two and Five lived in.

The entire town was made of docks and above those docks were decks that held the buildings, and above that were more stack buildings and decks. There were ladders, lifts, and stairs everywhere until it was somewhat dizzying. Just when Six thought he had seen the last oddity, Nine led the two to a set of stairs that led down either farther. He had not noticed the village was on a cliff until they started to descend onto the docks that lined said cliff. They kept going farther and farther down towards the water far below and occasionally the striped one looked over the edge and stared down at it.

Apparently Nine was familiar with the town as he led them straight to the bottom dock where the foamy water lapped onto the wooden docks and over Six's feet. That was when Nine stopped his friends, "I'll go get us a ship. You two wait here." He seemed so anxious to get to the island and Six wasn't sure why. If Jabberwocky was a monster then it seemed odd for Nine to want to rush to get to him. "Wait," Five called after the March Hare as he sprinted off, "How?"

There was no answer and Five slumped before sitting down on a nearby crate, soggy with salty sea water, and stared out at the water with his hands resting on his knees. Six sat down on the dock beside him and dangled his feet into the cool water beneath as he stared out at the sea. He had never seen the sea before; usually having seen only glimpses from old paintings. Clouds had moved in and dyed the sky white while the water turned a grey color from the reflection. He wanted to paint it, but Five was less optimistic, "It's going to rain… Being on a boat in a storm won't be very… ah…"

He didn't finish the statement and Six looked towards him, just in time to miss a rougher wave wash over his lap, and asked, "What happened to the Jabberwocky? After the hero found it and faced it with the sword?" The Hatter blinked a bit before lifting his hat to rub his head a bit, optic lost in thought, but Six wasn't sure about what. Then he fully pulled the hat off and started scrutinizing the inside as he explained. "What usually happens when heroes take powerful weapons to slay something. The Jabberwocky went snicker-snack, and the hero was said to went galumphing back."

It was as though Five suddenly began to speak another language and Six's mouth was posed slightly agape as he stared at the one eyed male. Then he asked, "But if he went 'snicker-snack', then how did he-?" Upon seeing Nine approaching, Six just gave up as he knew his question would just be cut off again, "Did you find a ship?" He asked and Nine beamed, "I did! There's a crew willing to take us to the island." Five was gawking in alarm and stood, "Really? But how?" Nine waved it off, "Just a little convincing, but they won't be staying long after they drop us off there."

This only indicated that perhaps they were afraid as well and Six was wondering of what, but when Nine beckoned to lead them to the ship the Artist merely followed. There was a line of majestic boats with large canvas sails and sturdy wood. Unfortunately, these lovely ships weren't the one that Nine was leading them to. The one with the crew willing to take them to the island that housed the Jabberwocky was not only half the size of the others, but in poorer condition. The sail was patched, the paint was chipping, and there were all sorts of greenery growing from the underside of the boat.

Both Six and Five had the same reaction of staring with shocked looks at what they were about to be climbing into. "Nobody else was willing to go." Nine defended, "They're afraid of the Snarks and out there fishing for Oysters anyway." This didn't exactly help, but the two reluctantly climbed onto the ship, and even in the poor conditions Six was quite amazed to be on a boat. He doubted he would ever be able to be on one at his own home and soon the ship took out into open water. The clouds opened again and revealed a stunning sunset shining across the water.

Of course it was hard to watch it when Six was stumbling around the ship. The water was rough and the ship rocked back and forth through the sea. Nine was sitting over by the door that led into some sort of portion of the ship that the Artist hadn't seen yet with his head between his knees, clearly dizzy and uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Five seemed fine, scanning the ocean with his spyglass, muttering about, "The Jabberwocky might help us, but the Boojum certainly won't!" Six didn't know what the Hatter was so fearful of, but his optics were then caught by two people bickering on the other side of the ship.

One was very tall, nearly Eight's size, and the other was of average height, and they were both gripping some sort of net. The shorter was wearing a small green hat that looked like a box and carried a bag that was filled with cut pieces of wood. The taller had some sort of metal headpiece that stretched down on each side of his face like long teeth and was quite portly. He wasn't exactly shaped like Eight because Eight had large, strong arms and a more look of strength, while this male simply looked round. His fabric was also a grayish tint while the Carpenter's was a creamy orange color.

Six decided to hesitantly approach and the shorter caught sight of him, "Here we are! A second opinion!" He suddenly announced as he grabbed ahold of Six and pulled him into the mix. "Tell us which of us is in the right." He demanded, "I think we should drop the net in the water." The larger spoke, "I think we should lower the net in the water." They now stared at the Artist who blinked in confusion at the question. "But… But it's the same." He responded meekly, "It's still putting the net in the water."

There was a small pause before the larger suddenly bellowed, "That's it! We'll 'put' the net in." The shorter scoffed, "I was going to say that, but you distracted me." He then looked back towards the Artist, "I'm the carpenter and that is the Walrus." He introduced the latter with much less enthusiasm. The Walrus gave a short bow, "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Will you accompany us in our putting of the net?" Six wasn't sure if he really wanted to, but he was on the spot, and so he reluctantly agreed and stepped forward with the other two.

The seemed to briefly have a tugging match to see who would have more of the net before they looked to Six who grabbed it in the middle, hoping his sharp fingers wouldn't cut it. "So… Why are we putting the net in?" Six asked and the Carpenter retorted, "Oyster fishing, of course. Haven't you ever been on an oyster fishing boat before?" The retort was a little coarse and Six decided to stop speaking as the Walrus spoke, "Yes, yes, this will be great. We shall dine like kings upon cabbages tonight!" The net hit the water and sunk underneath the blueness.

Six watched it eagerly as the other two began to speak to each other behind him, now talking about sand being at the bottom of the sea. It was after a few minutes that the net abruptly became heavy and Six interrupted the other two, "The net is moving." Both looked down and the Carpenter nearly whooped in glee as he looked at the net, "We've got 'em!" Then the Walrus released the net to cheer as well. Unfortunately the nets were now fully in Six's hands and the heaviness suddenly yanked him down. His legs flipped over the edge and he plummeted right into the water below.

Unlike the pool of water or the river, the sea was certain to not have a bottom to it, so the second the Artist hit the water he was in a panic. He coughed and sputtered as he clawed the side of the boat, "Help!" He shrieked, "Five! Nine! I can't swim!" Perhaps he could swim a little, but in this case, against the waves, he couldn't do so. Thankfully Five and Nine rushed to the edge of the boat, the former gasping and unwinding some thread from his bag and tying it tightly to a grapple of hooks before tossing it down. "Grab onto this!"

Six's head started to sink under the water when the hooks got into arm length. He grabbed it desperately and he was soon beginning to be reeled out of the water. His grasp was tight on the hooks as he was slowly raised out of the water and along the edge of the boat. Five and Nine slowly and painstakingly pulled their ally to the boat until the Artist tumbled in and collapsed to the deck. Five immediately kneeled beside him to check him over as the Artist slowly pushed himself onto his knees.

The March Hare immediately turned on the Carpenter and the Walrus who were already bickering again, "How could you let it go?" The Walrus demanded, "Now we lost lunch!" The Carpenter growled in returned, "The plan was mine originally anyway! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even know how to catch oysters! I should be helping you at all after all you ate last time!" The Walrus snorted, "The time has come- for you to talk no more! And I had to get my fill, at least I appreciated what I ate!"

Now the March Hare spoke in pure frustration, "Six could have drowned and you just let him fall overboard! You still aren't even trying to help!" He pointed out and gestured back to Six. There was a small pause between the two before the Walrus spoke, "Tragic, I'm sure, but where's the net?" Nine blinked, still aggravated, "Net? What next?" The Carpenter went to edge and peered overboard only to groan, "The net's sunk. We lost the net." The larger groaned, "Well that's just great then! We lost all of our haul and our means for bringing in another one!"

The Carpenter looked to Six, "Thanks a lot, Kid! Couldn't take two seconds to pull it up with you?!" He was clearly frustrated and Six was taken aback by the harsh comment before Nine spoke, "Leave him alone! You were making him do your work alone while you did nothing!" The scolding didn't exactly faze them, but neither of them seemed willing to listen to anymore of Nine's words and the Carpenter turned them away, "Come on, Walrus, we'll find one we can 'borrow'." They bluntly left and Six face contorted in shame; he hadn't meant to cause any of this.

Five put a comforting arm around his shoulder, "It's alright, Six. You were helping and they weren't even thinking. They couldn't have pulled a net of oysters into the ship anyway, it would have weighed too much for us all together." Nine huffed a little, "Just ignore them, Six. The King of Hearts is kidnapping people, there's an illness spreading around, and all they want to do is eat." He sounded pretty offended and Six couldn't help but feel a little bit glad that they were defending him. He still felt a little upset, though, and sat by Five for the rest of the trip.

He didn't see the Walrus and the Carpenter for the rest of the boat ride. The sky eventually turned purple, then indigo, and by time the Island came into sight it was nearly completely dark. The island was a large mass of darkness and the outside they pulled upwards to was like a swamp, spilling oily water into the ocean. There was a low howl of wind through the mossy trees that held curtains of darkness to obscure even more. Five was uneasy, Six was once again impressed by Wonderland's surroundings, and Nine was eager to get going.

"The Jabberwocky lives just beyond this marsh in a factory on the top of a hill." He explained to Six, Five seemingly already knowing and loathing the trip. The ship pulled beside the island on a small dock that was rotting through. As the March Hare dropped down onto the dock one of his feet actually popped through the wood and only barely dodged the muck that was building up beneath. Six was a little more careful and Five was so slow that it wasn't possible for him to move any slower. However, they were soon standing on the rickety dock, watching the boat sail away.

Nine then turned away and started into the trees, Six following as well and Five in the back. The Hatter pulled his harpoon out and scanned the trees in a worried fashion, "Be careful. There could be anything here." His voice was unsure and the other two could tell that he was uneasy. Still, they had to continue along, and Nine led them into the island of the Jabberwocky. Once past the curtain of willow moss, the island sloped down into an open area that was mostly submerged in thick water, and far off Six could see an open chasm where the water spilled in and vanished.

A dull fog filled through the area and left it hard for them to see through. They continued along what only slightly looked like a road. More looked like a path that some sort of creature had taken repeatedly, yet Nine acted as though he knew exactly where he was going. Soon enough Six's mismatched optics caught something through the trees and tapped Nine's shoulder before pointing upwards. Nine looked in the direction and could see the factory. It stood tall at the top of a steep hill and emit a red glow through its windows. "He's awake. That's good; he's a little temperamental when he's awaken."

He then smiled comfortably at the Artist who blinked a bit at the mention of a temperamental monster. That wasn't the only thing that started to bother him, though. _"The Jabberwocky is a monster living in a factory… Maybe it's just another version of One, and the King is really someone else, right?" _Either way, he had nowhere else to go, and they continued along. They soon came upon a wooden bridge that looked to be in worse condition than even the dock had been that they passed over.

Nine rubbed the back of his neck as he stared at the bridge, "This looks a little worse than last time I was here. Well, let me try it out." Six stopped him out of reflex, "I'll do it." Six wasn't sure why, but he had the nagging feeling that if Nine went first that he would fall, so Six decided that he wanted to try it first. Nine seemed a little confused, but agreed, and the Artist stepped forward. With that, he stepped onto the first board and listened to it creak in protest. Memories of his encounter on the bridge between Nine and the Machine blared in his mind and he tried to ignore it.

There was also the horrific feeling that he remembered when waking alone at the bottom of the trench after the rain had brought their sources back. He took another step, _"It's okay. It's just a dream." _He shivered a bit and took another step onto the wooden bridge. It continued to shake and tremble, protesting under Six's weight, and he steadily continued across the bridge. A board would sink, the next would creak, and the ropes being used as railings were falling apart.

Then his foot hit the dirt again and relief overtook his frame. "It's over." He murmured to himself before looking back, "It's okay!" He called and Five hesitantly took a step forward. "Alright. Thanks." He started coming across hesitantly and soon was halfway across, then Nine started crossing, and Six stared back at the factory once again. His mind was a mess of confusion and he didn't want to continue on. Then there was a loud crack, a cry, a splash, and Six spun around to see Five had gotten off the bridge, but the rest of it had fallen in, along with the March Hare.

"_I saw him falling in. I should have known…" _Six blankly thought as Five ran down the slope towards the bank of the waterway beneath the fallen bridge, "Nine?!" He asked in horror and Six followed as well, both soon being reassured when they realized that the pond was not nearly as deep as expected. A foot of water and a lot of loose mud had caught the March Hare who now sat up with a shaken look. He stared at his two companions for a good while before giving an embarrassed smile.

They smiled in relief as well and he stood before beginning to cross over, "Guess it wasn't as steady as I thought. At least you two got passed." The water filled in the muck spot where the Hare had just been and gave it the illusion of the mud moving. Then it actually did start to move, as both Six and Five noticed, with a few bubbles of oxygen rising before the mud moving together. Slowly it started to poke through the water in a mound as more surrounding mud moved in and build the figure behind Nine.

Five was sputtering at the sight and Six couldn't will himself to speak or do anything except stare. "Nine!" The Hatter got to the March Hare's dismissal, "I'm alright, just a little dirty." The mud began to form into a figure and Six soon realized that it was a replica of Nine. Five pointed in desperation and Nine finally looked back as the Hatter cried a warning. By now the mud creature was emitting a dark some from its mouth that seemed to have some sort of root lacing through it and its optics suddenly alit in a foggy, black tinted glow.

Nine gawked in horror at the Beast as Five yelled, "Nine! It's a Boojum! Run!" there was no need to tell the March Hare twice. He spun around and started attempting to wade quicker through the thickness, moving at a sluggish pace that the Boojum was steadily catching up with. Six and Five could do nothing but watch and coax. "Hurry!" Five commanded and Nine tried to speed up, clawing his way through the much, the creature reaching out and nearly touching over the back of his jacket.

At this time he was close to the bank and Five reached out to grab his friend, dragging him out of the muck until they both fell back onto the ground. Now Six took his turn and struggled to pull his companions to their feet. Looking over he watched as the Boojum nearly floated on the water, gaining upon them, and he could only run as fast as possible when the others did. The forest became a blur of stumbling over roots and shoving through moss, but the Boojum only helped force them along, now making a distorted noise that sounded like Nine's own words morphed and changed.

Then Six was clawing up a hill, crawling the exterior, following his allies. It was so sudden, the factory was suddenly there, Nine shoved his back and he stumbled through the entrance door that Five had pulled open. His body smacked into the hard floor inside, but he merely rolled over and watched desperately as Nine and Five shut the door behind them. The entrance was sealed and the Boojum had been escaped. Now the three of them remained and reacted accordingly by collapsing against the wall or floor.

Five was the one to speak, "You know, if you didn't nearly get caught back there that would have almost been funny. The chase; you were moving so slow during it that…" Then he just chuckled a little in relief and Nine smiled as well. Six merely let himself fall back against the floor and stare upwards at the arched ceiling. Only then did he realize that he was in the Factory. There was no turning back, he would have to face the Jabberwocky.

Whatever it turned out to be.

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**Mable: The next chapter will be posted either tomorrow or the next day, but recently I have begun a pattern of every other day, which I guess is good enough as long as I can keep it going. Review if you want to; they brighten my day and help me keep going, but don't feel forced. I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	5. The Jabberwocky's Factory

**Mable: Well, here's the next chapter of our Wonderland Saga! I had to rush a bit to get this one posted on time so I'm sorry if it seems rushed. I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Five: The Jabberwocky Factory_

The Factory was as close to the one from Six's world as possible and would be completely exact except for the doors that they came through. Though even their metal looked new compared to the rest and perhaps were just installed. There was the same smell in the air as with the factory; heated metal and thick oil with only the slight smell of some sort of exhaust. Nine stood first and helped Five to his feet before they helped Six up. The Artist didn't exactly want to stand but knew that he had to. Even now, time was pressed, and he merely decided to shuffle behind Five.

The soft clatter of metal on metal resonated through the factory like something was moving about deeper in the factory. Nine tried to look back past the rubble with wide optics, "He's somewhere in here." He exhaled calmly and started forward, Six noticed that he seemed a little nervous as well, and they headed along through the metal mess. The light coming from a glowing furnace in the back of the room that was only obscured by something in front of it that blocked some of the glow. The tapping metal noise continued to circulate around the room while coming from only once source.

Six's hands tightened on the Hatter's arm as he scanned the walls around him. For a factory, it was certainly empty. When he had been outside the factory during the Incident he had seen all sorts of Beasts coming in and out, but there were none here, and something about that was unnerving. Then they managed to make it to the furnace itself and Six trembled at the sight. There was the Fabrication Machine laying before the furnace and he buried his face into the Hatter's jacket. The Hatter place his hand on Six's, "It's okay. It's not alive." He whispered and the striped one lifted his head once again.

Just as Five stated, Six could see that the Machine was laying limp with its optic looking empty and unlit. It was clearly not responsive and the Artist blinked in confusion, "But… but the Jabberwocky…?" The March Hare was the one to speak, but not to Six or Five, "I know you're there. We need to speak." He stated with as much confidence as he could possibly manage in this situation. Only then did the metal tapping come closer, eventually coming through the rubble behind them, following their trail. Six found himself cowering behind Five once again.

If not for the four, twisted, mechanical arms that jutted from its back and held it off of the ground then maybe it would have resembled a Stitchpunk with deathly pale fabric. Its front was held closed by hooks and hoops as well. What was the most bizarre and terrifying part was his optics that opened to reveal a blood red color filtering out, what Six thought was only a trademark of the Machine or of a Beast. It moved slowly towards them, hauntingly, seeming to purposely keep itself as high as possible for intimidation, and bluntly approached the March Hare who just stared back.

He wasn't afraid, he just stared, and silence overtook. Eventually he managed to break it with a small comment, "Sorry to drop in unexpectedly." He gave a smile, the Machine Stitchpunk didn't return it. In fact, he seemed to very quickly acquire a subtle derogatory look. Nine decided to explain, "We didn't know what else to do and this was the only place that I thought of." There was more silence and Nine added in, "I know that we've not spoken in a while and… Well, that we're not… And you were the last person I wanted to come to, but you were all that was left."

Now the creature looked readily offended and Nine exhaled desperately, "Are you going to say anything?" The other suddenly spoke, firmly, "Oh no. We have _nothing _to speak about." There was clear anger in his voice and the creature bluntly looked away, pulling its normal arms up to rest upon each other, directing its gaze to the wall. Nine merely looked at the floor before Six spoke, quietly, "Are you… Are you the Jabberwocky?" Both of the males looked to Six and Nine spoke, "Yeah, he's the Jabberwocky." The Jabberwocky corrected, "Jabberwock."

It seemed to study both Six and Five, the latter of which waved a little as though they had met before. Five decided to be the one to explain as well, "The King of Hearts is after us, he's already gotten my mentor, the White Rabbit, and we had nowhere else to go." Now the frustration turned to a slight curiosity, "What did you do to him?" His optics flickered to Nine to question him and the male was offended, "I didn't do anything." Nine answered and Six decided to speak, "I… I delivered a message from Two, the Rabbit, and the King knows that I know his message and wants to stop me…The message was-."

The Jabberwock raised his hand in dismissal, "The last thing I need in the King barging in here because I know." He exhaled in clear exasperation and briefly rubbed his forehead with one of his hands. Then Nine spoke, "Child," He addressed, confusing Six as the Jabberwock looked slightly older than him, "We need help. You're the only person who's not afraid of the King of Hearts, who has the means to help us, who I trust… I know that I didn't write like I said I would and I'm sorry." he looked desperately to the other creature who finally seemed to give in, "I don't want to deal with any crazed King, but fine, you can stay."

Five seemed shocked at this response, "Really? But the guards are after us, you could have just sent us away." The Jabberwock turned on him, "You're right. Get out." He flatly and cynically replied before turning around and beginning to head out of the way, planning to address something else. Nine turned to his companions, "He's not serious." It was good he mentioned this because the Hatter was suddenly looking very confused and somewhat alarmed, the relief at Nine's comment was obvious.

Six was still a little surprised that the Stitchpunk resembled the Machine while the Machine lay dead nearby. He wanted to ask, but felt too uncomfortable to do so, and instead was interrupted by the Jabberwock speaking. "You decided to stop bathing as well?" His tone changed to a more playful one and he turned to give the March Hare a smug look. Nine looked down at his muddy frame, "Uh… I had a run in with a… Pond. Anywhere where I can wash up?"

The Jabberwock continued to look amused and started to lead him away, letting his mechanical arms pop and slide into his frame to where they disappeared inside, Six wasn't planning to ask. Six looked the Hatter, "I'm going too. I'm a little…" he looked down at his frame, "Purple…" The liquid from the fruit that stained him much earlier was still there. While ink stains never bothered him, dark purple liquid didn't look quite as nice with his stripes as ink did. Five smiled at this, "Alright. I'm going to take a look around and make sure the doors are secure."

Six wasn't sure about letting the Healer go alone, but was tired and dirty, and trusted Five to be alone. Five was always trustworthy; even back at his home Five had always been able to be trusted and reliable. He would come to Six's room and check on him before inviting the Artist to go see what Two and him were working on. Now thinking back, Six realized that maybe Five and Two hadn't seen him as a burden, not like the others. They cared for him. They all did in their own way, except for maybe Eight, and Six suddenly felt like he missed home.

However, it was quickly suppressed as he followed the March Hare and the Jabberwock. Unlike the Factory in the Emptiness, this factory had other rooms made into the walls apparently, and in the one they were led into was a large, tin basin that he assumed was used for washing. A system of pipes ran along the ceiling and end in a spout above the far side of the basin. One corner of the room was home to a few levers and cranks, of which the Jabberwock addressed. The pipes groaned from above before water suddenly shot out of the spout and began to fill the tub.

Hot water was shot out at a high pressure and Six was weary to touch the liquid in this state and instead patiently waited. Looking to Nine he watched as he removed his jacket. He didn't remove the hat for some reason and the small puff of a tail still remained, but the dirt jacket was thrown over a nearby bench. _"Did Two have a tail?" _Six wondered as he let his mind wander, _"I didn't see, but aren't Hares related to Rabbits? Maybe I can ask the twins when I get back to the Library. They'd know, they have a lot of books on animals… I wonder if the Tweedles got away from Eight…" _

The water was shut off and Six looked over to see the tin now halfway filled with water, which would be more than enough for both Stitchpunks. A small bit of steam rose from the depths of the clear water and Six realized how cold he was. He waited until Nine struggled to climb in before he made the motions, then he joined him. His body immediately seemed to melt into the warmth and he slumped back against the edge of the basin. Nine began to rub at the muck in his burlap until the water started to tint a bit.

Apparently the Jabberwock wasn't convinced that he wasn't doing a good enough job by himself. By now he walked and moved like a normal Stitchpunk, and at some point the glow in his optics had dimmed. There was still a red tint in the back of his optics, but they had nearly reverted to a normal color. He was carrying around a yellow tinted block that was somewhat translucent and came behind Nine, kneeling onto one knee with a soft exhale, like a parent would give their child. The March Hare glanced back before perking at the bar, "That might help."

Six guessed it was some sort of substance for cleaning and Nine reached for it. The Jabberwock swatted his hand away, "If you do it you will be in here all night." He stated flatly, as though it was a known fact, and dipped the bar into the water before rubbing it on the soiled burlap of Nine's back. Six watched the scene with a slightly amused look; they were going between acting like two feuding siblings to this horrific creature, which bluntly looked like the Fabrication Machine, treating the March Hare like a fussy pup.

Nine apparently noticed Six's gaze and looked a bit embarrassed before smiling a cockeyed smile. "Umm, Child, you don't have to do this." The other male simply retorted with, "Please do not call me that when we are not in private." Nine whispered in return, "Please do not _wash _me when we are not in private." The pale male huffed at the other's behavior, "Trust me, the last thing I want to do is be in here cleaning this mess off of you when I should be out there waiting for the inevitable mob at my door, but you cannot do it alone, apparently. Take that off, it will rust."

Nine ignored the command and spoke, "I can scrub myself just fine. We didn't come here so that you could clean me-."

"You should have. Take that off." The Jabberwock repeated and the March Hare huffed a bit at the command before reaching towards his hat. Six blinked a bit as he watched the male unfasten the small band of fabric holding the metal top to his head and pulled it free. The last thing that Six expected was under the hat. There, folded underneath the hat, were a pair of Rabbit ears. They were made of soft fabric that matched his burlap and looked like something that would be on a stuffed human's toy.

Nine rubbed over them gently with one of his hands and stared at the water defeated. The Jabberwock continued his assault on Nine's burlap as Six moved towards Nine, moving through the water, "You have ears." He pointed out and in response said limbs twitched a bit on their own. Nine smiled again, though perhaps an unsure smile, and shrugged, "Yeah. I usually keep them covered because they get in the way." The excuse was spoken in a rushed tone as though Nine had repeated it many times and Six found his voice speaking even though he didn't want it to, "They don't make you look bad."

The other's optics widened and Six grabbed at his key with one hand to retain nerve, "I mean, well, you don't have to be afraid of looking different." If Six was going to be honest with himself, he too went through times of self-consciousness. After all, he had many quirks that were different from the others, and understood how it felt to see these as flaws. He never saw Nine as flawed in the past, but if he thought deeper, Nine did seem to be a little self-conscious and not only in this state.

Sometimes he got uncomfortable when talking about the Machine, normal Nine did, and Six wondered if he was still trying to redeem himself for what he blamed himself for; for waking the Machine. The March Hare now smiled at Six though, "Thanks. It is a little weird having them, not many Stitchpunks in Wonderland have animal parts." He smiled a little wistfully as though lost in thought and the Artist quietly asked, "Can I touch them?" The March Hare now looked normal once again, returning to a friendly smile, "If you want. I don't mind."

He bent his head down so that Six could touch them. Six was hesitant with his sharp fingers, but was able to keep them gentle as he touched the soft bits of fabric. He noticed Nine shiver a bit before smothering a soft bit of laughter and assumed that he was ticklish. Six pulled back, "They're soft." He pointed out and the March Hare gave a goofy smile, "I guess so." At that moment, the Jabberwock suddenly pulled back, letting his arms slip out of the water and shaking the excess water off of them, "You can handle the rest."

He then stood and started towards the exit of the room. The March Hare called after him, "Do you have any towels?" The other seemed dismissively waved across the room, "Over there, somewhere." This answer didn't exactly impress Nine who went to washing himself. Soon afterwards Six used the bar against his own canvas as Nine decided to leave the basin and dry off. He left a towel out for Six before mentioning seeking out Five. Then the room was quiet.

At first Six was unnerved and wanted to go seek out the others immediately, but then started to enjoy the solitude and merely leaned back against the edge of the basin once again. It was so relaxing compared to what he had been forced through for the rest of the day. This dream had gone on much longer than expected and was now beginning to make him actually weary. It was almost unbelievable how real this dream felt and he realized he desperately needed to rest.

The next thing he knew, he was sliding into the water, and got a mouthful of it. While it felt like a second later, as he sputtered and sat up he realized that he felt like he had just awoke, meaning that he had managed to fall asleep somehow. He rubbed his face tiredly and shivered at the tepid water around him. It had definitely been a while since he had fallen asleep and he realized he needed to get out of the basin. He dragged his waterlogged body over the edge and collapsed limply to the hard ground outside.

He managed to pull himself back up and sluggishly found the towel that was left for him. It was a little worn and felt like it could come apart in his hands, but looked clean and was more than enough for his size. He eagerly wrapped it around his back and left into the main room of the factory to search for the others. He wasn't sure what lured him to the front of the furnace, he just had a feeling that they would be there and sure enough, they were. Five was over out of the way tiredly cleaning his harpoon, on the verge of falling asleep.

Beside him was Nine who was clearly asleep even though they were both leaning against the back of the Machine's body beside each other. The Jabberwock was nearby addressing some sort of valve that Six guessed controlled the furnace. Six thought that they had become familiar enough that he could ask him more on the Jabberwock tale; considering that he was the Jabberwock. The small figure slipped towards the pale male and softly spoke, "Can I ask you something?" The other's optics flicked to the side briefly before he tilted his head slightly and answered, "Of course."

His movements were mechanical and the Artist looked back to the others before whispering, "In… in the story, the hero went after the Jabber- After you, and used the sword- but you're alright." The other just stared for a few seconds. Six was certainly wishing that he wouldn't have spoken now. However, The Jabberwock did answer, "Sometimes the truth is tainted to appease the masses. A triumphant tale of a hero smiting a monster would spread through the world and give hope. Honestly, I do not care that they spread the story as long as they do not come here seeking answers when they catch the flaws in the tale."

His tone sounded empty and Six suggested, "We don't have to talk about it. I'm sorry." The Jabberwock exhaled softly, "No, it's fine. As I said it does not bother me…" Then he began to recite, optics slowly returning to a red glow as they stared into the depths of the furnace. "Long ago, the White Kingdom was threatened by a creature known as the Jabberwock that thrived near to their kingdom. They were in constant fear as they had little of an army for foolish reasons of disbelieving that war could really occur."

Then he straightened and slowly began to pace. "There was one doll brave enough to fight the Jabberwock. All he wanted in return was to smite the creature with the sword of the royal family; the Vorpal Sword. They gladly handed it over, seeing it as an investment in their future, and he set off to smite the Jabberwock. The tale is somewhat correct at this point; he did use the blade to destroy it." He stopped his movements and Six noticed that he actually looked a little saddened as he finished.

"Maybe it was the Vorpal Sword, maybe it was his own anger towards the monster, or perhaps the Jabberwock was simply that important to fate… The hero, the fool, killed the Jabberwock, and as punishment he became it in its place." Suddenly everything made a bit more sense and Six realized that the Machine, now shut down, had once been the Jabberwock. Six didn't exactly know what to say and the male turned to cross to the other two, "There's no need to delve any farther. That is what happened." He sat down beside the March Hare and leaned back against the body of the creature he had killed.

Six took the liberty of sitting along beside him, "I didn't want to upset you." The Jabberwock dismissed it, "You didn't. I am just-." Nine suddenly slumped on his shoulder, "a bit distracted- Nine, you're asleep." The other didn't move and the pale male just stared at the one on his shoulder before Six smiled a little, "Thank you, still, for protecting us, Mr. Jabberwock." The Jabberwock dismissed him, "Just call me Child. It is much easier." Six thanked him again with the proper greeting and decided to leave it at this and try to get more rest, laying on his side and pulling the towel tight around him. He fell asleep rather quickly.

However, Six didn't stay asleep all night, and awoke once again. This time he wasn't sure what was bothering him, but there was something clearly wrong, and as such he looked over to the others. The March Hare had moved at one point in the night and was now sprawled on the Jabberwock's side, the latter holding an arm around him while letting his head merely slump. Both were completely asleep. Six did notice quickly that someone was missing from their group, though. The Hatter was gone and Six was sure that maybe this was what had awoken him.

He stood and quietly exited from his position in front of the furnace. He lifted the damp towel and laid it over the March Hare's back, and some of the Jabberwock's chest, before turning to go seek out the Hatter. He wandered through the darkness of the factory, hearing some sort of scratching towards the entrance, and slowly approached it before hearing footsteps. Then, suddenly, Five appeared before him, and Six immediately noticed the frantic look in his optic. He grabbed the Artist's shoulders, "Six, go get the others, quick!"

The striped one was confused until he suddenly heard the sound of talking outside. He could clearly hear a mechanical voice groan out, "Get the mutts up here!" Then, much closer and louder, he heard a familiar voice as the doors were shaken. The doors themselves were now firmly tied shut by thread around their handles and blocked by large hunks of metal that were dragged over. The Hatter must have done this to keep them out. The familiar voice echoed, "They've sealed the door!"

It was none other than the main Guard tugging on the door who was Eight. The other guards seemed hesitant to continue, the ones that hadn't ran off to get the 'mutts' of course. A more outspoken one quipped with, "Sir, maybe we should call for more soldiers. The Jabberwocky is rumored to live in these walls and we don't even know if they came here." The head Guard turned on them, "They're in here. You heard him, he said that they were coming to get the Jabberwocky." The others seemed unnerved and the Guard looked back to factory again before suddenly putting his own pieces together.

"Maybe we can coax them out." He pointed out and a smaller card guard, labelled a three of hearts and hunched over with gnarled fingers, chimed in. "Factories are highly flammable." He pointed out, "Maybe if we start a fire we can scare them. They would rather surrender than be caught in the explosion." With this his leader immediately perked and turned on him. At first the smaller thought he'd be furious, but then he announced, "All of you start getting some brush. We'll smoke them out."

The group didn't realize that Five and Six were close enough to hear everything said. Five breath was quickening as though he was going to hyperventilate so Six grabbed his wrist and dragged him back to where the others were still asleep. By now Child was awake and Nine was fixing himself. "It's them out there, is it not?" Child demanded, sounding quite a bit agitated, and Six spoke, "They're going to try and smoke us out!" Now the March Hare, who had finished adjusting his hat, looked over in horror, "_Smoke _us out? They're going to set fire to a factory?! They could blow the entire island apart!"

"And they expect us to walk straight out that door into their hands? Are they complete idiots? They can't fathom that I have another exit?" Five blinked in recognition, "You mean there's another way out?" The Jabberwock gave him a slightly blank look that paused for a few seconds, then answered, "Of course there's another way out. There are three, though I am guessing that they will be able to detect most of them." Six looked back to Five, "How?" Five shakily answered, "The guards, when the guards are searching for someone they consider dangerous or allusive, they use Canines to smell them out."

It was just getting worse and worse when Nine spoke, "There's got to be a way out left. We can't hand ourselves over to them now, not after this, not when we still have no idea what's going on." Child looked to him, "There is another way out. Down at the boathouse we can escape and head over to Looking Glass Land once again." Nine stared at him in disbelief, "You're coming with us?" The other started towards the body of the Jabberwock before glancing back, "No, I plan to sit here and let myself set on fire." Then gestured out, "The grated door on that side." Gesturing to the far wall.

Five immediately went to seek it out while Nine seemed to linger, Six was caught in the middle, and Child pulled something free from the metal frame. Six noticed that it was right where the Talisman port was on the normal Machine, but with this one the object slid out to reveal some sort of blade. It wasn't especially unique other than the wooden handle which was engraved with what looked like some sort of writing. Either way, Child then headed in the direction of the other exit, and Six guessed that the sword had been the Vorpal sword.

The extra entrance was blocked by a grate that Five had already managed to pry off. "Creator, Hatter, impatient are you?" Child asked in a little bit of surprise and said Hatter gave an embarrassed smile before the Factory suddenly filled with a shrill alarm. The Hatter winced and looked upwards to scan the ceiling which he realized now was filled with smoke. "How did it get in?! Is there a fire inside?!" He demanded and Nine spoke, "It's coming in through a vent… But they had to have started a large fire to get that much smoke."

Child and Five worked on the grate briefly before getting through to a secluded and empty hallway made completely of concrete. There were stairs leading deeper underground as well, Child leading until the corridor was no longer lit by lights. It only got more cramped when the corridor ended in a passage small enough that they had to crawl through. Nine went first, managing to turn on the 'ear' light on his hat, nobody decided to ask why he hadn't used them sooner. Child was behind him, then Six, and Five.

Six found very quickly that he didn't like this tight space and trembled as he imagined the top of the tunnel caving in upon them. "Five," He asked, "Do you have any of that liquid? That makes us smaller?" The Hatter reached into his bag while slowly moving forward with one arm, "Ah… No. I didn't think we'd need it. Sorry." Six came to a complete stop, "Maybe there's another way out? This… The tunnel might cave." Five smiled a bit in reassurance, "It's cement, it won't cave." Though the Artist did notice that his optic suddenly scanned the roof for reassurance.

Meanwhile, up ahead, Nine decided to stop as he heard that the other two were lagging behind. "Hold on, where's Six and Five?" With that, Child seemed to run into him, which was awkward enough in the tight space. "Damn tunnel." Child murmured before Nine pointed out, "You made the tunnel. Why'd you make it so small?" The Jabberwock huffed, "So that nothing would come in. It's too small for a Snark." Then Nine decided to ask, "Would you get off of me? It's like you're climbing on my back."

"You don't seem to mind it any other time." Child pointed out before slipping his arms around Nine's midsection and the latter laughed nervously, "You shouldn't joke like that, Child, it's- uh- Guys, hurry up!" He called back to Six and Five. Five looked to Six one last time, "It's okay, Six. Just close your eyes and we'll be out in a second." The Artist reluctantly did so, trying to suppress the claustrophobia growing inside, and managed to sluggishly make it the rest of the way. He nearly threw himself into the boathouse when it opened into the shanty appearing building.

A loud explosion followed this. "I knew it." Child murmured, "I knew they were going to do damage one way or another." Five peered out of the boathouse at the ocean outside, "Do you think they'll see us?" Child shook his head and crossed to the rowboat in the corner. Nine laughed a little, "That's your boat? No battleship?" Child gave him an unamused look and untied the boat as they climbed in. Soon they were out in the water staring back at the scene. Somehow the guards had lost control of the fire and were now trying to put it out.

Unfortunately for them, a few card guards at the dock clearly saw them, holding back Metal Mutts with bone faces who snarled and barked after them. While they didn't make a clean get away and were still seen they did manage to get back out into the water. Out into the unknown once again.

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**Mable: Yeah, I was rushed a bit, but a rough draft is better than nothing at all. I did decide to bring Child back since he has gone over relatively well and his personality tends to add a chance of pace at times. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed! Next chapter will be posted soon!**


	6. The Ink Stained Weed

**Mable: Here we are! Chapter six, I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Six: The Ink Stained Weed_

Six awoke to the sun beating down on his face. He groaned a bit and rolled over in an attempt to drown it out. It didn't take long for him to realize that he needed to get himself moving once again. The guards were coming, they were always coming, and they had to keep moving. It was then that Six started to sit upwards and realized that he had been laying in the bottom of the rowboat that was now docked at land. The other were nearby as well.

Five was sewing something that almost looked like a blanket while Child sat beside him, rubbing his temples and shielding his optics, while Nine was standing at the top of the shoreline staring into whatever surroundings there were with Five's spyglass. Six wobbled as he stood on the boat and climbed out to the ground around. His feet rested on the warm sand that led upwards to a slope of graveled rocks, a rough and unforgiving terrain that looked untouched by any grass or fauna. In fact, from his view he couldn't even see a tree, but assumed he would be able to see more once he got onto the ledge.

Firstly he approached Five, "Hello." The Hatter looked up from his work and smiled, "Morning, Six! You slept late." Six blinked a bit before smiling a little, "I guess I did…" Back home, in the Library, Six barely was able to get any sleep. Here it seemed to come naturally and was perhaps because of the day he had before. He looked around for somewhere to sit and eventually gave in and sat upon the sand, unlike the others who were sitting on the gravel. "What do we do now?" He asked softly and Five paused his work briefly.

"We find our way back to Looking Glass Land." Child spoke with a pained tone and from the way he was holding himself it seemed to be his head aching, "Then we plan our next move." Then Six caught the wording and looked around, "Back to Looking Glass Land?" he asked quizzically, "But I thought we were in Looking Glass Land?" Five got a solemn and somewhat sympathetic look towards him, "Ah… We must have drifted a bit. We went beyond Looking Glass and into, well, the Beyond Lands." He finished the last stitch on the cloth and handed it to Child.

Apparently it was a hooded cape, but Six recognized the Machine insignia design, and wondered how Five knew about it. _"Child's part of the Ma- Jabberwocky. Maybe he knew about it and asked for it?" _The thought soon diminished as he realized the more important aspects bothering him. Such as, they were somewhere unknown with no idea where to go next, or at least no idea from himself. He stood and looked up to where Nine was perched on the top of the slope and trudged upwards to meet him.

Any thoughts he had were erased by the sight of what laid past the edge of the slope. Because now that he stood beside the March Hare he could see what spread before them. It seemed to immediately dip down into a valley, perhaps even below sea level, and was filled with a thick bed of flowers. It was stunningly gorgeous and yet he still looked to Nine desperately, "Can you see anything?" Nine closed the spyglass and looked to Six, staring quietly, then bluntly stating, "Yeah. I can see the White Kingdom from here." he pointed and Six blinked a bit, "The White Kingdom… is there?"

Nine nodded in reassurance, "It's on the verge of Looking Glass Land." The Artist stared at him for a bit before Child spoke, "That was anticlimactic. I expected us to be halfway to Oz by the way we drifted." Five seemed more than relieved, though, and wiped his forehead of sweat that wasn't even there. "It'll still be a walk, but at least we can see something." Nine added in, "And it's a nice day. Whose knows; the sun might do some good, Child." He pointedly added the last point in and said Stitchpunk looked away from him.

"Let's go!" Six piped up with a growing smile. These flowers were much larger than the smaller ones outside of the town that the Hatter and Hare had lived at and he wanted to see them closer. Perhaps there was even a way to use their petals and make ink; if he was going to take anything home with him then it ought to be something he could actually use. It was be well enough proof as well because he doubted that he could find such lovely colored ink in the Emptiness. Red flowers, blue flowers, lavender stalks, yellow cups; he could recreate everything that he had seen in Wonderland and make paintings that they would love.

To be fair they never exactly hated his drawings, but sometimes he did feel uncomfortable having to explain when their optics were all watching him curiously. It was odd; even though he was with other versions of them, he still missed them. He ignored the regretful feeling in his belly to stumble down the slope into the bed of flowers. To his surprise it was much deeper than he expected and the flowers were much taller. The ground beneath them was quite mushy and smelled strongly of earth. It was actually quite pleasant, not like the empty part of Luxembourg that had little fauna.

"Six, wait up!" Nine called after him, thoroughly amused and started to quicken his pace as well after throwing the spyglass to Five. The March Hare practically hopped to get after Six who was starting to look at the different flowers. "Can use make ink with flowers?" He asked curiously and Nine immediately looked back to Five, "I don't know. Can we, Five?" The one eyed male called back, "We certainly can! You can make them with berries or flower petal. Be careful with the flowers!" He suddenly added and Six didn't take the warning as any more than Five being overprotective.

He wanted to gather as many petals as possible and immediately sought out the perfect flower. A small stalk of blue flowers were immediately inviting and Six plucked a few from it, carrying them in his arms because he had little else to carry it with. Then he rushed to a small yellow one and plucked a few of the petals free. He was a little ways away from the others when he found a rather large flower nearby in a thicket of thorns. It was a single red rose, overly large, closed tightly, and just at his height to reach forward.

The petals were big enough that just grabbing one would have to be enough for an inkwell. He reached forward with his free hand and grabbed ahold of a soft petal before pulling it. To his surprise, instead of it giving he was met with a sharp cry. He jumped back as leaves, cut like hands, leapt out of the thorns and clasped the petal. Then the rose actually opened and revealed a face in the center, with large black eyes and small petal lips. "You pulled my petal!" The flower cried out in horror and Six stumbled back before falling on his backside.

Suddenly all of the flowers around him started to move as well and he squeezed the collected petals against his front as he began to tremble under their gaze. "He got Daisy as well!" A loud lavender flower cried from nearby, "The poor dear! She's too scared to speak!" A group of lilies lifted from above a few unresponsive flowers and revealed pretty faces that matched the rose's. At this time the March Hare caught up and gawked at the sight, "I didn't know the whisper flowers got so big." He muttered as Five and Child also managed to catch up.

Six looked back desperately before a vine slowly slid around his wrist and lifted him off of the dirt. He cried out in alarm when he was face to face with a partially closed blue flower with squinted eyes, "I think it's some sort of weed. Or perhaps just a delusional doll." Six cringed at her harsh tone when a soft voice spoke, "Be careful, Morning Glory! He's got hands of blades!" This voice was from the yellow flower who he believed was called the Daisy. The Morning Glory dropped him, "He could claw our stems to pieces! That fits the description of a _weed." _She snarled before Five came forward.

"Wait, wait!" he desperately pleaded, staring at the surrounding flowers, "He didn't- this is just- just a mistake!" Nine pled for his case as well, "He didn't know you would mind losing your petals, Miss… flower." The morning Glory scoffed, "Well perhaps he would enjoy having those limp petals of his yanked off head, but not us!" The others agreed and Five protested, "He wanted to make ink and- it's my fault. I told him that ink could be made from petals so he chose the ones that would make the best ink."

That's when the Daisy spoke, "Now my head is lopsided." She begrudgingly admitted and Six lifted the yellow petals he plucked, attempting to hand them back, but Child stopped him. "They're merely cosmetic. They are not that important to whispering flowers as to the ones that are much more quiet, and bearable." The last comment was whispered and the daisy put its leaf hands on the part of its stem that curved out like hips, "Cosmetic? You are one to talk with that long petal!" She tugged on his cape before lifting and peering underneath. "Oh! Look! He's as white as a chamomile!"

Child pulled the cape down and was clearly insulted, and Nine detected even a tone of embarrassment, "Do you mind?" He asked in frustration to hide such self-consciousness. The flowers suddenly became a bit too curious and started to move in to circle the dolls. Five was one of the victims as the rose moved in, thorn covered stem sliding out to allow her to get closer. "My petals certainly would make the best ink." She cooed before sliding a hand leaf over his arm, "And I'd give them all to you Mr. Top Hat."

The Hatter's optic widened, "Umm… Thank you, but I wouldn't want to pluck your- I mean- to take your petals." She giggled a bit too much for him to feel safe, "Such a gentleman! Why don't you come into my home? You are certainly welcome and if the thorn bush gets too close then we can always make room." She was circling his body, unfortunately using her stem to wrap around him tightly, cupping his face, "So put together, you make me just want to mess you up!" He tried to take a step back and ended up losing balance and crashing to the muck, the flower above him giggling.

The others were not as romantically inclined, but just as forward. "Look at this funny hat!" A small, yellow lily chimed and pointed to Nine's head. The morning glory scoffed and before Nine could brace himself a vine wrapped around and lifted the metallic hat, slipping it off, "Let me see this." She grouched and Nine gaped in alarm, "What? Hey!" It was soon off and he tensed as his ears were out in the open once again. The daisy decided to point this out, "He's a bunny! He's got bunny ears!" Nine groaned and the small one asked, "Do you have a tail too?"

Child decided to speak, "He does, as a matter of fact. Right here." To the March Hare's alarm, Child didn't merely point the puff of tail out, he flicked at it. The owner of the tail jumped in surprise and brought his hands back to cup said tail, but by then Child's hand was gone, and he turned on the Jabberwock, "I told you last time that if you did that again I was going to hit you with something." He threatened and scowled at the other's smug look. He wanted revenge and grabbed a handful of muck from the ground before throwing it and having it strike the back of the other's new cape dead on.

A small smirk came on his lips for a few seconds until the other male turned to face him, a look of clear annoyance on his face, and the March Hare let his few Rabbit instinct take over as he spun on his heel and dove into the bed of flowers, running as fast as possible. The Jabberwock immediately went to hunt him down and tackled him into the reeds where an odd battle ensued. It involved kicking and tugging, and a very weird incident when Six could clearly hear Child cry out, "You bit me! What are you, some sort of animal?!" To which Nine retorted, "You're the one who just flicked my tail! You should know!"

Six decided to stand his ground and speak, after watching Five claw his way out of the rose's tight grasp, and turned to the morning glory, "We need to get to the White Kingdom in Looking Glass Land. Do you know which way it is?" None of them spoke and Six waited patiently until he realized that they were purposely not speaking to him. He changed his tone, "I'm sorry. I didn't know about your petals. Where I come from, flowers don't feel the petals. They don't mind if you take them."

The flowers clearly did not forgive him and some of them turned away in pouting motions while poor Six watched helplessly. "Please, we need to get to the Kingdom. There's a group of soldiers following us and they-." The small daisy perked and asked with a sense of dread, "Soldiers? What soldiers?" Six suddenly had an idea; maybe they would help them if they knew exactly what would happen if they stayed. "Big soldiers, with mutts and knives, big knives, and they burnt down the factory we were at."

The flowers were abuzz with dread; apparently they didn't like the sound of what the soldiers brought with them, especially the fire. Five managed to get away from the rose and stumbled alongside his friend, "Y-Yeah." He agreed with his friend and the flowers were mortified. "And those _things _are coming here?!" Six nodded vigorously, "They're following us." The morning glory continued with, "Then you must make haste and get out of our patch before those hooligans get here!" Five now spoke, "It's a little disorienting. Do you know what direction leads to the White Kingdom?"

The rose spoke this time, "Of course, Handsome. Down that way," She pointed in the direction of the Kingdom, "is a river that will lead you right to the Kingdom." She then slid closer, "Come back any time, Sugar. I'll be waiting for you." She greeted and he looked down shyly, "Umm… Maybe someday… I'll go get the others." He lifted Nine's hat off the ground, the morning glory dropped it at some point, and went into the thicket of grass and flowers after them.

Six followed eagerly as he felt the stares of the flowers on his back. _"Maybe… Maybe I'll find another way to make ink." _ He didn't want to go gather the petals he had already plucked out of fear that he would offend them even further and instead continued on. The Hatter managed to fine the March Hare and Jabberwock practically wrestling on the ground, the former of the two was clearly losing and yet was now biting down on the other's arm, but at the second the others wandered up they looked over with empty stares.

Five felt awkward and Nine laughed a little dismissively before clawing himself away from the other. "That looked a lot worse than it was." Child meanwhile was testing his wrist and hissed a bit, "I would disagree." He murmured, but let the situation drop, and they joined Five and Six once again. With that the party began to take off in the direction of the White Kingdom. The trekking continued for some while through more of the flowers, soon entering a patch of ones that didn't speak like the others, that didn't have faces and such.

They came upon the river's wide berth and began to traverse along the edge towards the looming of the White Kingdom. Six kept his mismatched optics steady on the sight and became in awe at that towering, white wall surrounding it. It looked like the wall outside of Luxembourg, except thicker and brighter. The flowers fell behind and opened into the checkered fields of Looking Glass Land. Eventually they managed to find an actual road and followed it to the entrance gate. There was a small moat around the walls and a drawbridge laid across it to welcome others into the kingdom.

Inside said drawbridge Six could see the rest of the town. Unlike the walls, the buildings inside were not white and were mostly different types of bricks. The buildings that were closest to the street had large windows of glass that exhibited wears while not very far down it opened into a plaza. From what Six saw from where he stood, there was a grand fountain that was crafted with a statue in the center that resembled a pawn chess piece and surrounding it were a few venders trying to exchange wears.

The Hatter turned to the March Hare, "Look at this place! I can see why Two wanted to come here!" He looked to Six, "He was always friendly, liked places where there were a lot of people to meet." Six didn't answer, but he thought to himself, _"He speaks of Two like Two's gone forever… But I… I guess Five would know that feeling. But not here, back there, back at the Library, normal Five." _The March Hare smiled, "It's just like I remember it. A little more active, though. Busy time of the year, I assume."

Five was the first person ready to bring them back to attention, though. Perhaps mentioning Two had reminded him that the White Rabbit was still missing at the present, "Maybe… Because we're dealing with the King of Hearts, we can ask the White King and Queen to help us. Nine, you used to live here, maybe they would be willing to help one of their own." The March Hare seemed to suddenly become hesitant at this, "I… Uh… I don't know about that, Five. I doubt they'd- maybe you should try. You're Two's apprentice, after all, and they would respect anyone who knew 'the White Rabbit'."

Five seemed just as hesitant as Nine before Child spoke, "I can get an appointment with the court." Nine's optics widened and he turned on Child, "You? But you're… Well…" The pale male straightened himself confidently, "Ignorance is bliss, at least for us. They still think I am the hero that went to slay the Jabberwocky that mysteriously returned. I will show them the Vorpal sword and they won't ask questions." Nine looked a bit impressed by the description, "Actually, that might just work."

Child turned down the road and stared as though that was the proper direction. "Just…. Try to keep from making a scene while I'm gone." He insisted before beginning to walk off. Five chuckled at this in amusement before looking over at the others, "Well, maybe we can use this time for some good and get some supplies." He looked into his bag while Nine turned to Six, "We could get you some clothes finally. It might make you stand out a bit less." Six blinked a bit; he didn't realize he stuck out that much.

Though he did notice that all these Stitchpunks were wearing some sort of clothing except for himself. He smiled a little, "Okay. It could cover my stripes a little." He was sure that this would be the first thing any of the guards would notice anyway, so that seemed best. Five hummed a bit, "Yeah… Maybe I'll get some more fabric while I'm there…" He exhaled pitifully, "I haven't been away from work this long." His best friend patted his shoulder, "I think you'll live, Five. You could use a break." This got a small smile in return.

Six decided to start down the street as he expected the others to follow shortly after. His optics scanned the windows searching for anywhere that would be willing to sell a decent disguise. Of course, he did eventually come upon a tailor shop, with odd clothing hanging in the window. Take for example a vest that Six could see; made of pink and blue fabric that was sewn crazily with yellow thread and covered in odd shapes.

He didn't think humans dressed like this and even the Stitchpunks in Wonderland didn't seem to dress this oddly, but it would be different and it was colorful enough that it caught Six's eye, so he hurried into the shop. A little bell hung over the door and rung as he opened it to alert the owner of the shop that a new customer had arrived. Indeed, they would have to be alerted, as Six doubted anyone could see through the shop at all. Clothes hung everywhere in striking colors, on ranks and from the ceiling, and he only barely was able to find his way to the front desk.

Someone was kneeling behind it working so he softly spoke, "Umm…. Hello. I need to get a-," With that, the owner of the shop stood before him, and his reaction was obvious. "Ah!" he cried out in surprise in alarm as he was once again face to face with the Duchess. He didn't know how she got here, why she was here, but here she was; smiling so wide that her stitched together lips stretched their red stitches taunt.

"Oh, hello again!" She came around the counter as Six flinched back, but she was upon him, "Fancy seeing you here! My, I didn't expect to see such a lovely fabric- Stitchpunk pop into my abode so late in the morning, what can I get you?" She wrapped herself around his arm and rested her chin on his shoulder. It was overly pointed and the action unnerved him greatly. Still, he had no choice except to be pleasant, and at least Nine entered the shop at that second so he wasn't alone. "I…I need something to wear."

The Duchess pulled back and scanned over him, "Yes, yes. It is odd that you wander around bare, but I find it very attractive. Wonderful striped fabric, a shame to cover it, but I will find you something more than acceptable." The March Hare raised a brow and when the female moved away he leaned in beside Six, "I'm not sure, but doesn't she sort of look like the Duchess?" Six got a grim look and Nine caught on. Apparently, from Nine's hesitant look, the Duchess had to have had a known background which only unnerved Six even more.

She appeared once again with some sort of thick thread that was marked like a measuring tape. She hummed to herself, "I think blue would go best. Lovely like against your stripes. Perhaps more stripes! Yes, we need more stripes!" She then finished getting the measuring and dashed off. Six smiled and remarked, "She's not as upset as last time. I think she got upset cooking." He suggested, as though Nine knew the entire story, and from his nodding it seemed that he somehow understood. That was, until the shrill voice called out, "Where's the blue?! I just had it _right here_!"

Six tried to be an optimistic Stitchpunk, but that seemed to lower his chances greatly. About thirty minutes passed with Nine browsing through the clothing and Six staring out at the street. Five was sitting on the street, using packed away supplies that the Artist didn't know of to work on a new hat, obsessively trying to make one. At least Six found himself interested by watching him work so the time passed much better. Then, finally, the Duchess appeared once again, "Come into the back!" She chirped pleasantly and Six stared at her before looking towards Nine.

He didn't seem to notice the display and the Artist decided just to follow her into the back. The dressing room was just as much of a mess as the rest of the shop and was littered with clothes and fabric everywhere. She immediately handled him like a ragdoll, flipping him about and pulling fabric over him. It was uncomfortable, a rush to get on, and seemed like much more than he was anticipating. Soon it was on and she flipped him towards the mirror, "Look at yourself!" She beamed, but he was hesitant to do so, and broke down.

The top of the outfit was a blue shirt with short sleeves and white stitches across the front in a decorative way. The bottom was made of short pants, not even reaching his knees, that were the same blue with white, vertical stripes along them. There was an apron that covered both, the actual apron covering most of the shorts while being held to his body by white straps that looped over his shoulders. Finally, a small, blue vest was around his midsection, holding the apron tight. It was certainly strange clothes to Six, but he liked the blue color, and smiled a bit at the sight.

He'd have to blend in somewhat now and he turned to the Duchess, "I like it!" She seemed pleased with her work, "Consider it a gift. Just as well, put this on too." She showed him a small navy blue ribbon, "Wouldn't it be a perfect around your neck." Six leisurely spoke, "I like it like this. I don't-." Then she looked to him, "_Put it on_." She growled out in a hissing tone and he did so without a second thought. Then she smiled once again, "Now you look just as normal as anyone else. Come, we'll show you're friend how you look."

With that she began to head out of the room. Six, meanwhile, lagged a bit behind. He stared down at himself, at his strange clothing, and wondered if it was really normal.

Then he reveled in the fact that he wasn't exactly normal anyway.

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**Mable: The dress was designed by Whose-Responsible-This, my friend and the requester, and I hope I described it well enough to go with the original design. The next chapter will be posted soon. I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	7. In the White Kingdom

**Mable: Here's chapter seven, finally! I had trouble getting this one finished… I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Seven: In the White Kingdom_

Other than the last scare of the Duchess, Six felt quite pleased that he was now more able to blend in. He rushed out into the shop front, not just because of the terror of the Duchess, and approached Nine who was still wandering around in the front of the shop, looking confused at something. "Nine!" The Artist chirped, "Look!" The March Hare looked over and his face immediately became confused, "Six... Why are you wearing a dress?" The striped one blinked, "A dress? No, that's the apron." He lifted said apron to show the striped bottoms.

The Hare now smiled, "Looks great, Six! The guards aren't going to be able to recognize you at all. Or, well, it'll help hide your stripes." The Artist wanted to show Five and headed towards the door only to notice that Nine was staring at the far side of the shop. "Nine?" He asked quizzically and the other male looked away, "I thought I saw some sort of Cat." He rubbed the back of his neck before gesturing back, "Do we need to pay?" unfortunately, he had not noticed the Duchess creep behind him, and jumped when she suddenly spoke.

"Oh, you like it too! Then I'll make you one as well Mr. Hare! His is free of charge." She gestured to Six before looking to Nine, a weird stare on her face, "Yours won't be." Nine just stared back and she headed out of the way, "Wouldn't you look majestic in… Burgundy? Yes! But where is the burgundy?... It's not here?" Six scuttled out the door and Nine followed, "I guess I'll be back later!" He dismissed before shutting the door, already hearing the female getting riled once again, and both Stitchpunks exhaled in relief. "She's a bit of a wild one." Nine whispered with an amused smile, "But we're _all _mad around here."

Six noted that this was the same thing the Cheshire Cat had said and wondered if Nine had talked to him without saying anything. He let it drop when he saw Five still sitting on the side of the road, finishing a sun hat that was white in color with a purple ribbon wrapped around it. Six wondered how he finished it so soon and approached, "How did you make that hat so quickly? Out here?" Five looked back, noticed the new clothing, and spoke, "Well… It's a Hatter's job to keep making hats so I learned long ago that you didn't need a workbench to work. Just needed to do something… Maybe I'll sell it for more supplies."

He suggested before starting to push all of his tools back into his bag, "You look really nice, Six. I didn't expect it to be finished yet." The Artist smiled as he looked down, "Maybe the Seamstress is like you; she knows how to work fast." The striped one did notice Nine clearly mouth the words, "It's not a dress." To the Healer who gave a brief nod. "Child never got back?" Nine asked and Five shook his head, "Not yet." This was a signal to Six that he still had a little longer to explore and his optics wandered down towards the fountain.

"I'm just going down there." He pointed out before heading down the street, his companions calling behind him. Nine with a, "Alright! We'll be there in a while!" And Five with, "Be careful! There could be Guards in the streets!" Six headed off on his own down the road towards the open plaza. It was steadily filling with more Stitchpunks, some wearing odd headdresses that made them look like chess pieces, and he felt curious of the world. He hadn't gotten a time to merely walk and look around without having to fear for his life or knowing that he had to go somewhere next.

He wandered about until his mismatched optics landed on a sign nearby that clearly stated; Mrs. Sheep's Curiosity Shop. Ironic, since he had just noted that he was feeling curious, and he felt drawn to approach. The window of Mrs. Sheep's shop was filled with trinkets and figures that looked like the playthings that human children would use, that were now left behind after the war. He opened the door of the shop and entered inside. Beside the window was the front counter and behind said counter was an older woman with squinted optics.

It was hard to see much of her body as she was wearing a very thick clothing made of some sort of wool. The clothing was so thick that she was barely able to move, or at least looked like she couldn't, and was focused on knitting something. Six looked curiously at the knitting being addressed before the Stitchpunk, he assumed it was the Sheep, spoke, "Something you need?" She had an older voice and it sounded quite annoyed. As though she hadn't wanted to be bothered. "I wanted to see… What you were selling."

He asked hesitantly and she grumbled to herself before speaking, "All you see is what I have. The knick-knacks, the table setters, and et cetera." She brushed him off with a waving hand that he noticed looked different than a normal Stitchpunk's. Her fingers were much shorter and there were only two of them instead of three. Six didn't mind being dismissed and looked away from her to scan the items on the shelves against the window. One that caught his mismatched optics was a small porceline doll. It seemed so strange that a doll fashioned after a human would be here.

He had seen them in the Emptiness, naturally, but not here. Not when humans seemed more taboo. There weren't any large houses left behind from any humans so he doubted they were ever here. "Can you row?" Mrs. Sheep asked as she eyed the male. He blinked in confusion, "Row?" She couldn't mean like a boat and she didn't. She made a stitch, showing him bluntly how to do it. "Row. Do you know how? If you can take over I can go get the better goods." He wanted to see the better items since these out here were already so good.

"I'll try." He promised and she handed the knitting set over to him. He tried to balance the knitting needles in his sharp hands while emulating the old Sheep's stitching. It failed to produce even a single stitch. She, however, went into the back of the shop and opened a drawer that she then pulled completely out. The back was glass and she lugged it to the counter before setting it down. Then she began to gently lift little objects out of the drawer and placed them on the counter. They were small objects that were oval shaped and colored in bright designs and colors.

Six looked to them, only half acknowledging when the Sheep pulled the knitting out of his hands and began to work again. He stared at the items before Mrs. Sheep spoke, "They're eggs. Very valuable eggs. Worth more than you are." He didn't know if this was an insult or her merely stating a fact. His optics looked at the tiny objects before looking towards a blue one at the end of the line. He poked at it before it suddenly moved.

He was taken aback when the spiral designs on its body actually peeled off, pressed against the counter, and lifted itself upwards. Like little arms and legs, it used the new appendages to run down the counter before hopping off onto a lower shelf. Six could only stare at the scene before he recognized something, he could hear Nine's voice calling from nearby, and decided to dismiss himself. "Umm... My friend is calling me." He pointed out and the female didn't respond, merely working, "Thank you for showing me the eggs."

He added as he noticed that the other eggs were beginning to mimic the first and were scurrying off of the counter. He edged out of the shop and looked out to see the others nearby. Child was now with this again and he eagerly approached them with a smile, "I'm here." He brought their attention to his arrival and Child glanced over before doing a double take. Six knew what he was looking at and pitifully spoke, "It's an apron." Then pulled his apron upwards to show the bottoms underneath.

Child didn't answer, but seemed to understand, and Nine spoke, "We're going to get an audience with the White Court. They agreed to see us." Six was thrilled, though he noticed a skeptical look on Five's face, "What did you tell them to convince them to see us?" Child seemed to suddenly get lost in his mind for a second and stared out into nothing. The March Hare especially looked disturbed as Child looked back to him, "Nothing you should be concerned with." Nine chuckled a little, "You're acting like you killed them or something… You didn't-."

Child glared, "Of course I didn't. I merely recited the tale of the Jabberwocky and they immediately crumbled to their 'hero'." There was silence and Nine asked, "You just proclaimed yourself hero and they believed it?" Six now spoke in, "Will they be able to help us?" Nine's response was understandable, "Not at this rate they're not." Shortly afterwards the group of four headed towards the castle. Like the walls outside, it was blank of any color, and only the guards and visitors brought color to the world again.

As for guards, there were not enough to make Six feel safe, especially since they were all thin and lanky. They almost resembled chess pieces, but were too thin and tall to look as similar as the cards had to real cards. After heading down a long hall they appeared at a pair of tall doors being blocked by two guards who actually were keeping people out; in the rest of the castle it seemed that anyone could just walk in. Child immediately caught their attention and one of them nodded before entering the doors.

Both he and the other guard with him wore masks that looked like animals that Six had known to be called 'horses', which made since as they also appeared on a chess piece. The doors were then opened a few seconds later. "His highness and her majesty will see you now." Six tried to keep with Child who was hurrying ahead while his Hatter companion noticed that the March Hare fell back. "Nine?" He asked and the latter was clearly nervous. This was strange, Five was the nervous one, but Nine managed to push it away and slowly followed along.

The throne room opened up to them with large windows that were tinted a dim green and let the colored light filter in like souls. On the far side of the throne room were not two, but three thrones, and each one was occupied. Two were tall and regal while the third was slightly smaller. In the smallest was a female with pale pink fabric wearing a very puffy and lacey dress of darker pink colors. Her face looked friendly, much different from the other two Stitchpunks in the tall thrones.

Both were wearing stark while; the male was in a fur covered white robe and a short crown that's top looked like the top of a king chess piece, he was right beside the pink clad female. The female was in a simple, white skirt that trailed along the ground and wore a headdress that, as before, resembled the chess piece of a queen. Six noticed her immediately, sitting tall and confident, but mostly because he noticed that Nine was staring at her. He looked almost nervous around her and Child even seemed to get a quick red glint on his optics as though he was annoyed.

"Welcome to our Kingdom." The King greeted to the group, "We haven't had any visitors, let alone the slayer of the mighty Jabberwock, in our halls." The Queen then suddenly remarked, "That is, of course, if the Jabberwock is slayed. We have still seen activity on the island." The King spoke, "It has not attacked us so it must be dead." The pink girl beside him nodded in agreement, but the Queen didn't seem to agree. The King turned on the group, "What have you called upon us for?" Nobody answered.

Six looked to Five, too nervous, to Nine, staring at the floor, to Child, looking annoyed, and he realized he was the only one left who was able to speak. "We need help." He meekly replied, "The King of Hearts has kidnapped the White Rabbit because… We don't know, but the White Rabbit said that he 'lost his head' and now he's after us." He pleaded and the Queen immediately perked, "The Red King is what?" She was clearly disturbed by the thought while the King seemed a bit unfazed, "I know of the White Rabbit; he clearly works as the Red King's subject. I am sure it can be no more than that."

The Queen looked to him as though he was insane and now Five spoke. Unfortunately, his immediate ramble was so rushed and confused that nobody had any idea what he was saying. Every occupant in the room stared as the Hatter went on for a good few minutes without saying anything other than gibberish. At one point Six looked to Nine who gave a bashful smile and replied with, "He… Well… He does this sometimes." That's when Five suddenly managed to secure himself and spoke.

"No, Sir, you don't understand." He paused briefly before regaining his voice, "The White Rabbit, Two, is my mentor. He does work with the King of Hearts but… But in his last moments he feared the King! He knew something was wrong and maybe the King _has _lost his head. There has to be something because he's following us, he's sending his guards after us, after Six, for a reason." The King then asked, "Which of you is Six?" Six raised his hand and the King was sympathetic, "I am sorry that you have dealt with so much, Miss."

The striped one gawked before crying out, "It's an apron!" Lifting it and showing the bottoms underneath. The King looked a little flustered while both Child and Nine looked amused. "Oh, well... Erm." He cleared his throat, "I apologize. However, you must understand our position with the King of Hearts. We have no ill will towards him."

The Queen retorted, "Ill will? Brother, you must be kidding. This is the same doll who refuses to note us as a Kingdom. If I remember right, he sent peace treaties to the Diamond Kingdom and the Spade Kingdom, but avoided us because he didn't believe we were an actual Kingdom. He's arrogant, he's overblown-." The King interrupted her, "Yes, he can be troubling, but there is no need for us to get involved." The girl in pink spoke, "He might want to start a war with us." She sounded fearful and the King leaned over, "No, sweetheart, he won't. We don't take sides."

The Queen seemed infuriated, "We don't take sides? The King of Hearts is sending his guards through our kingdom and we don't take sides?" The King turned back to her, "We don't. This kingdom was built without war, without fighting, and without meddling into the work of other Kingdoms. What is a Kingdom built on strife?" The Queen retorted, "And what is a book without pictures and conversations? This is why we have no allies and now we could be under the threat of war!"

She protested, but the King was adamant, "We will not be involved. We thank you for killing out Beast, but I cannot risk the lives of my bride and I." The girl in pink smiled a little while the Queen looked positively outraged. Six was absolutely taken aback by the scene and yet not surprised in the slightest. It seemed that many people in Wonderland were either bluntly unhelpful or didn't care. Child spoke, "You certainly seem grateful. Let us hope the Jabberwock never returns or he may be insulted enough to return your generosity." He turned away, "We'll find another way."

Then started out of the throne room. Six didn't wait with Five and Nine, he already knew that there was no choice in protesting. He sluggishly exited the room and followed after the Jabberwock. Once out in the foyer Six's attention turned to his key which he pitifully squeezed in his grasp, "What do we do now?" He asked his companion who merely responded with, "We wait for the others." That was simple enough, but didn't seem to help him feel any better. He went to the wall and sat down against it, pulling his knees tightly against his chest, while Child began to pace across the floor.

It wasn't too long before the Hatter and the March Hare returned as well. They both looked grim and so it was obvious that nothing had changed. "How did it go?" Child asked, "Do I even need to ask?" Five adjusted his hat and explained, "The White King was adamant that he didn't want to go against the King of Hearts and the Queen stormed out. After that we just left…" This only made Six feel worse, but he put on a fake smile, "It's okay." Nine also smiled a bit, "Yeah, we'll just need to find something else to do."

They seemed to head out of the White Castle almost immediately afterwards to avoid any other confrontation. The activity in the fountain plaza had calmed down and the group briefly stopped there. Five dropped onto the edge of the fountain and began to go back into his map. "I guess that means that the Diamond Kingdom and Spade Kingdom are both not going to help… We could try the Club Kingdom, but that's too far away, much farther past the Beyond Lands." Six blinked and spoke, "But we were in the Beyond Lands."

Five shook his head, "No, we weren't far enough to be in the real Beyond Lands. We didn't even see a single sawdust eater." Six didn't like the sound of the thrown in title and felt uneasy, but merely sat down on the edge of the fountain beside Five and peered into the water. The bottom was covered in little coins that sparkled in the sun that was slowly easing towards setting. Nine also got on the fountain, but was standing on the edge and balancing himself to walk along it. "The Club Kingdom would leave us walking through the Beyond Lands for days."

This didn't seem to appease anyone. "Alright…" Five began before clearing his throat, "Well, maybe we could try… We could try to head back home. Maybe the Guards won't suspect us being at our own home?" He suggested, but Nine seemed hesitant about this as well, "I don't know… I don't want them interested in the house or they might bother Dormy, and the last thing I want is them to be breaking down the door while she's in labor." Child suddenly spoke, "How was she when you left? Was she already beginning to nest?"

The Hare nodded, "She was, but I couldn't tell." Six looked from the water and looked towards Child, "You know her too?" Child dismissed the question, "Let us say that she was a gift." Five drew attention back to himself again, "We're starting to… To run out of options." Then, suddenly, it hit Six like a wall of bricks. There was an option that remained; he could take them back to his world. They could block the tunnel and be safe back home. Yet, at the same time, he knew they couldn't run away from this, but he was starting to become scared and usually the answer to that was going to the others.

To his family; the ones he had been with since birth. He managed to suppress his opinion and keep it under wraps until they really were out of options. After all, Five already had a new suggestion, though it wasn't much of an improvement. "We should probably stay in the White Kingdom for the rest of the day and leave tomorrow in the morning. Maybe the guards will be hesitant to come after us if we're surrounded by…" He stopped for a bit before instead stating, "Maybe we'll be less noticeable in a crowd?" Six decided to nod in agreement and Five gave a little smile.

"So there we go! We'll get a good night's sleep and figure out what to do in the morning." This seemed good enough, even though it was only afternoon, and Six sort of lagged behind as Five went through the task of finding a hotel. He also watched as Five managed to bargain enough to trade his hat for a room for the four of them. Upon entering the room, the four realized that they were a bed short, and after fifteen minutes of trying to figure out how to decide who would be stuck on the floor, Six decided to ask if he could share with another, not saying why but really hoping it would keep the nightmares at bay.

Nine volunteered for such and that was straightened out. Six stayed in a fog for most of the time and was more lost in his thoughts than anything else. Multiple worries filled his head, bullying him and irritating him, and eventually the others noticed this as well. "Six, you've been quiet." Child suggested as Six looked upwards from his view of the table. The other three had led him to a restaurant, a type of store that sold meals, and the Artist had gone along with it without really paying much attention.

The restaurant was warmly lit by a series of lamps and there were many other tables like theirs that were filled with various other Stitchpunks. Their table was in the back, somewhat hidden, and Six was thankful that at least they wouldn't be spotted as easily. His mismatched optics looked to the others and all of them were watching him concerned. "I'm alright." He explained before looking down at the plate of food before him. Some sort of mix of fried vegetables and meat that, like the scones at the tea party, seemed to fade away after each bite was chewed.

"I'm going to go look around." He started to stand from his chair while the other three watched. "Want us to come with you?" Five offered to Six's dismissal, "I'll be right back." He reassured before pushing his chair back in and wandering towards the front of the restaurant. There was a large window in the front of the restaurant that he crossed to and stared out of into the setting sun outside. He was only there for a total of ten seconds before one of the Stitchpunks working at the shop, dressed in a dark green suit, approached his side and spoke. "Are you a Mister Sir?" He asked.

The Artist was so impressed that someone didn't accuse him of being in a dress that he wasn't too confused at how someone had his name. He nodded and the waiter pointed towards the front, "There's someone asking for you. I-…" He trailed off, "Oh… They left. Well, perhaps they'll be back." He didn't seem bothered, but Six was immediately unnerved, and he quickly returned to his table. Trying not to stand out too much he steadily headed towards the table, then whispered to the others in a soft, panicked voice. "Somebody was asking for me."

"What?" The Hatter asked in alarm as his optic widened dramatically, "But- But how?! Someone knows we're here?! How can they know we're here?!" He asked frantically and the March Hare tried to calm him down. "It's okay, it was probably someone from the hotel." The Hatter quieted down, but began to address his tea with shaking hands, putting a few tablespoons' worth of honey into his cup of tea in an attempt to calm his nerves. Now the Jabberwock turned to Six, "Who was it exactly?"

"I don't know." Six shrugged pitifully, "He left. I never saw." This was even worse and Nine put his hands upwards, "We'll be fine-." At that second he unfortunately knocked over his own cup that began to spill dark brown liquid across the cream colored tablecloth. The clinking noise of the glass immediately managed to catch the attention of some of the nearby tables. Child immediately grabbed a napkin and began to try and clean the mess, "Thank you, Nine. Just in case we were not being stared at enough already after Five's meltdown."

Speaking of which, Nine looked over to Five to see the male still shoveling honey into his cup and spoke, "I always heard that a little tea went well with honey." He playfully quoted and Five only then realized what he was doing and laughed a bit. A clearly nervous and stressed laugh instead of an amused one. Then he stood, "I have to go pay my debts to society before we're caught." Then went towards the front to barter for their meal while the rest of them finished.

The group then immediately rushed back to the hotel. "Don't panic." Nine insisted to Five who was already starting to do such, "Don't panic? Nine, they've found us!" He protested and Nine insisted, "We don't know that yet." Child spoke, "He is right. That may have been a messenger from the White King telling us to leave his Kingdom before we offend the bloody Red King." The March Hare turned on him, "You're not helping." Six, meanwhile, stayed quiet as he sat down on the bed that he had chosen as his own.

He had this bad feeling that something was coming after him, edging up the stairs, coming towards their room. When said figure was actually at their room, Six could feel nothing but overwhelming dread as he heard the braying on the door. At first the others went still and then Five suggested, "Let's not answer it." However, the knocking continued to repeat and eventually Child spoke, "I'll answer it." Slipping the Vorpal Sword behind his back he strode forward and cast open the door to reveal who was waiting on the other side.

They were all taken aback.

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**Mable: The next chapter will be posted soon! I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	8. Into the Beyond Lands

**Mable: Here's chapter eight! I don't have much to say this time… I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Eight: Into the Beyond Lands_

Child would have immediately impaled whoever was standing at the door once it opened. Only waiting to see the deep red of the guard's armor before thrusting forward into his mark. To his surprise he wasn't faced with such an action and merely blinked, looking over the person who the others failed to see. "… Interesting clothing choice." He complimented in a forced effort, "Considering the fact that one of our group is wearing what clearly looks like a dress, I don't believe a bird is anything too far out of the ordinary."

Then he opened the door and Six immediately stood to his feet as he recognized the person. Clothed in only white bracers around her forearms and thighs with a bird skull helmet upon her head that she lifted to reveal her face. It was obvious that she wasn't merely the White Queen, now Six could clearly recognize her as Seven, it had just taken a better look and more familiar attire. "Your Majesty!" Five blurted out in surprise and in near mortification, stunned that she was here and trying to figure out why she was here, while Child discreetly shut the door.

"I came here to right the wrongs of the White court." The Queen began, "What my brother did was a great injustice, but there was nothing I could do. We were supposed to rule the Kingdom together, but since he has gotten married, and since he had become so paranoid, it is hard to get a joint decision on anything. Especially family and, unfortunately, the Red King falls into that department as well." Six didn't expect to hear this, "The King of Hearts is part of your family?" She looked to him and clearly had a sympathetic look, as though she was ashamed to admit it.

"He was our Father's brother, but they had a falling out years and stopped speaking. Because of this, he never even seemed to acknowledge us and refuses our attempts to communicate. This is different, though." She changed her tone to a more solemn one, "Do you have any idea of what exactly is going on?" That was when Nine decided to speak up and explain the situation, "The King kidnapped Two, Two was studying an illness, so we assume that maybe Two was ill and the King had him quarantined. We were left a message, but it didn't say more than we need to be weary of the King."

"And we are already weary of royalty." Child suddenly added in, an unenthusiastically unimpressed look on their face, "They tend to believe they are capable of more than they are." This was obviously a shot towards the Queen who seemed to be able to slip past this with little care. If anyone was insulted it would have to be Nine who promptly gave him a disappointed look. The Queen then asked, "Where's the plan from here?" There was a few seconds of silence before Five exhaled quietly, "We don't know. We're out of options."

"Have you thought of heading into the Heart Kingdom?" She suggested and everyone seemed a little weary of such. "What?" Five asked, "But… But they're searching for us!" The female nodded, "Then they wouldn't readily expect you to approach the Kingdom." Child huffed, "Yes, let's walk-." Nine interrupted him, "If it gets to that then it would be a good idea. It might give us an idea of what we're going up against." Then the Queen also added in, "While we don't have much of a standing with the other Kingdoms, the Club Kingdom could be persuaded to assist us."

"We were going to do that." Six said softly, "But the Sawdust Eaters…." The pale female looked to the side and thought, "Yes, the sawdust eaters can be a problem, depending on which kind they are." The silence returned in the room and Five rubbed his patch tiredly before asking, "So what do we do?" To Six's surprise, the voice that spoke and lead the others was his own. "We should go to the Club Kingdom and get them to help us, so that it will be safer to go to the Heart Kingdom. Maybe with more Stitchpunks we can defend ourselves better?"

To his further surprise, the others all began to nod and agree. Back at the Library Six never gave his opinion on more than his own drawings and the occasional vision, so he never expected anything he would say would be agreed with. They all seemed to agree with him, though. "Let's do that." The March Hare insisted, "We'll pull through the Beyond Lands and see what we can get out of the Club Kingdom." The others agreed and the plan was made. "Now, your highness." Nine started with a small smile, "If you need a bed I'm sure we can get you one. Five and Child could share."

She gave him a thankful look for his offer, "Don't worry about it. I can find my own for the night, and please just call me Seven. There's no point in being overly formal." He gave a slightly sheepish look while Child suddenly swung open the door, "We should be getting on to bed if we are planning to walk through all of that tomorrow." The female agreed and headed for the door before stopping in the hall, "You know, I am grateful for what you did to the Jabberwocky, even if my brother is not. I do understand that you risked your life."

What provoked Child was unknown to Six as his optics flickered red, "I am the Jabberwock." He stated simply, "Good night." Then closed the door on her. When he turned away he had this satisfied smug look even though the only look on Seven's face had been a few seconds of shock before the door was closed. Nine wasn't impressed at all, "Why did you do that?" he asked with a tone of clear annoyance and Child merely crossed to the bed that would be his own, "To knock her down a peg. Just because she is royalty she believes she can come and dictate us."

"We need her help." Nine insisted as Child tossed his cape off and climbed into bed, "We certainly know who w_ants _her help, don't we?" He asked before rolling over on the bed and going quiet, signaling that he was going to sleep. Six looked to Nine and saw an embarrassed look pass his face, "You guys… You don't believe Child, right?" The Hatter cleared his throat before speaking, "Of course not, Nine. You were just being nice." Then also began to fix his own bed. Six wasn't ignorant; back at the Library he had noticed Seven had romantic feelings towards Seven, but something here made them seem more awkward.

Either way, Six laid down on the bed that was his and shortly after Nine joined him. They wound down and soon after Six fell into a fitful sleep.

Morning came too quickly for Six. He was shaken awake last by the Hatter and while the others were getting ready to leave. The sun hadn't even rose when they stumbled out of the hotel. Apparently Seven had awoke Five by knocking on the door in the morning, so she was awake and waiting for them already. They immediately made a beeline to the bridge out of the Kingdom which was lowered so that early deliveries could leave the Kingdom and head out into the world. Once on the road, the Hatter consulted his map, and Six felt himself grow a bit more curious.

He hurried to catch up to his friend and peered over his shoulder, "How do we get to the Beyond Lands? The real ones?" Five hummed a bit in thought before tilting the map so the Artist could see. "It says here that there is a road that leads into the Beyond Lands. It'll probably vanish once we're past the boarder, but it will help us a little bit." The Artist decided to keep from asking about the Sawdust Eaters and instead followed along eagerly. The other companions behind him were also active, with Nine chatting with a patiently listening Seven while Child was brooding to himself.

That was when everything came to a sudden halt. Six stared in alarm as he looked at what was before them. What was a field of grass was interrupted halfway through by nothingness. The rest of the land seemed to suddenly turn into a gravelly area lacking grass or fauna of any kind. It seemed to stretch on forever and Six blinked at the sight. It was just an ongoing nothingness. He looked to Five and could see worry passing his optic before Seven wandered beside him. "Are we going?" She asked and he snapped to reality, "Oh! Yeah, I was just…" He trailed off as he started to put away his map.

Nine then took the lead and they began to head out into the infinite nothingness. Six's mismatched optics watched the scenery searching for something, anything. He looked back at the scenery behind to see to his alarm that the grass had completely vanished behind them. "Something's changed…" He voiced in disturbance, "It's like everything's gone. We only just stepped off of-…" he turned back to look at the others and just stared into emptiness. The others were no longer with him.

They couldn't have walked ahead as there was nothing in the distance, neither them nor anything else, so Six was left nearly spinning in circles. "Five? Nine?" he asked as his voice became a bit desperate as he realized they were completely missing. Wonderland was somewhat confusing, but this was beyond that, and perhaps that was why the beyond lands were known to be so dangerous. He stumbled over the gravelly ground and began to sprint a short way in an attempt to catch something, anything. "Anyone?!" He cried out somewhat frantically as he began to feel unsafe.

He was completely out in the open, alone, and anything could find him out here. His head flung around everywhere to see anything before his optics landed on something new. He slowed to a stop and stared at the small building nearby. It looked to be made of cement, but was painted with bright colors that made it appealing. Though it was strange that instead of having windows or shingles they were painted on. The painting job wasn't exactly perfect either with big gaps of grey in the paint.

It didn't disappear as the blue clad Artist approached and he stared upwards at the cement house before him. There were only a few steps leading to the uncovered wooden door and he hesitantly approached before reaching for the knob. It was cold in his hand as he twisted it and pulled the door open. Inside the house was simple and small. A single room with a small table in the center, covered in an old and frail, white table cloth and topped with tea cups and little bowls.

The china of the bowls and cups looked chipped a bit. He studied them as he pulled a wooden stool out and sat down. He didn't know why, he just felt the need to sit down, and stared at the setting before him. The teacups were empty of liquid as he noticed when lifting one and studying it, and the bowls were full of a mashed mix that looked odd. He used his fingers as makeshift utensils and scooped out a nice, hearty bit of the mixture before tilting back and letting it drop into his mouth. He immediately spat the mix out in disgust; it was merely soggy pieces of mashed wood.

Or, more or less, sawdust.

This new realization took him completely aback. "The Sawdust Eaters… They're named that because they eat sawdust?" He asked himself before realization hit; he was in a Sawdust Eater's home. He immediately stood from his seat and rushed to the door that he eagerly turned to knob to and stumbled out of. Unfortunately, he was not back out into the world. _"Things ARE changing." _He figured as the door led him into some sort of hallway. The walls and floor were all concrete with drawings all along them.

It looked like someone with fingers not as sharp as Six's had drawn along the walls. The pictures themselves were innocent enough; pictures of human looking dolls with button eyes, of porcelain dolls that resembled the heads of Seamstresses, they were simply enough children's drawings. His sharp fingers trailed along them and he gasped to see trails of ink following them when his hands had not touched ink in quite a while. He drew his hand back, briefly, before touching the wall again and allowing his hands to return against the cement.

His fingers trailed upwards and downwards along the wall. He then completely faced it and began to walk and draw with both hands making designs and miniature sketches. His face broke into a gentle smile as delight filled his optics. He was only drawn out of it when he ran out of wall. There was a gap, like a balcony with a simple wooden rail, that showed down into the room that was halfway filled with water. He could still see the cement floor beneath, and that wasn't the only thing. In the very bottom he could see what looked like a key that resembled his own incredibly.

"That looks like…" He grabbed for his key and was horrified to feel nothing there. "What?" He patted the front of his vest and apron only to realize that it was completely missing. "How did it come off?!" He hadn't even felt it and now there it was laying in the water below. He knew he had to get down there and searched the area, eventually finding that the hall ended farther on with stairs. Unfortunately the stairs were broken halfway down and he knew while he could get down, he would possibly not be able to climb back up.

Six's judgment was clouded with the fact that he lost his key; one of the few things that Six held onto for dear life. After all, Six could remember getting it sometime after birth, and had it for most, if not all of his life. So he dropped himself down into the room of water below and began to wade in the direction of where the key was. Thankfully, the hall he had been in was like a walkway, and down here it was entirely open. He did manage to find the key and quickly placed it back on his neck where it belonged, but did notice something odd.

Beneath the key was, oddly, what looked like a trap door, and Six was curious. He was cautious enough to stand to the side as he opened it. To his unfortunate surprise the second the door was opened, water burst from it, gushing into the room. Six tried to use his legs to prey the trapdoor over the water and cut the flow off, but it failed to shut as he simply wasn't strong enough. The water began to raise and Six began to panic as it raised towards mid chest. Thankfully, there was a random piece of furniture floating on the top of the water, a wardrobe.

He didn't know how the wardrobe could float, but that was the last of his problems as he climbed on top of it. By now his head actually seemed to hit the ceiling which had oddly lowered and found a new problem as he was being crushed between the wardrobe and the roof. He desperately opened the wooden doors and dropped inside, them slamming behind him. Then, suddenly, the Artist fell through the back of the wardrobe. Instead of falling into the water his body stumbled out and he fell to the wooden floor beneath.

After pushing himself upwards, Six looked around and noticed that he somehow came through the wardrobe and out of another wardrobe. Water was already leaking through and this time he was able to roll onto his back and kick the doors closed easily. Relief filled him and he collapsed against the wooden floor. His mismatched optics opened and stared at the ceiling above him and at the dust caked windows that were letting light through, slightly orange tinted. He maneuvered his head to look around before he stopped upon seeing something else in the room.

Over in the corner was what looked like a dollhouse that humans would use. However, it was now sized for someone like Six, and someone was crouched before it. It was clearly a doll, but not a ragdoll-like creature as Six was. It was a porcelain doll, sitting before the dollhouse, legs jutting out as it held two figures made out of sticks in its hands. Six watched it for only a second before its head spun around to face him. He scrambled back and hit the wall at the sight of its face. It had green, glass eyes and pink painted lips with pale skin and curly blonde hair.

However, one of its eyes looked cracked on the glass and a big chip resided on the cheek beneath it, connected to the eye by a crack. It stared at Six wordlessly and the Artist simply stared back meekly. Then, suddenly, its body rolled over as well. Its movements were oddly stiff as it began to crawl towards him without a visible expression. Not that a porcelain doll could very well give an expression. Six scrambled to stand, but wasn't able to before the doll was upon him and he cried out at the weight on him.

It stayed over him and stared down at the visibly shaken ragdoll. Then, suddenly, its hand went out and clasped against the ribbon around his neck, the one that the Duchess had insisted on when giving him the outfit. It pulled it free from its tight hold on Six's neck and stared at it. That was all it was interested in and it soon climbed off of Six and crawled back to the dollhouse. Six could merely exhale in relief as she began to wrap the ribbon around one of the makeshift stick dolls, tying it tightly in a bow.

The striped one stood while the porcelain doll dropped the stick figure into the dollhouse and addressed him again. It seemed curious again and while he was still unnerved he was no longer feeling threatened. It stood to its feet and walked over with still joints in its knees. Just the same, it didn't wear any shoes, and merely had them painted on. Its dress was all white but stained in random colors of paint and he wondered if she was the one who painted all along the walls. "Hello." He quietly greeted, "Can you help me?"

The doll stiffly nodded and he continued, "I need to go back out. I need to find my friends, outside, can you help me find the door out?" He asked desperately and she nodded. Then raised a hand as though signaling him to pause which he somehow understood as her saying something needed to be done first. "You want me to do something?" She nodded again before lifting her hands. One covered her good eye and the other counted down with its fingers. "You… You want me to cover my eyes? And count?" Six guessed and was rewarded with a final nod.

"Okay…" he was hesitant to take his optics off of the doll, but covered them tightly, and began to count. He heard rapid footsteps, so quickly that it sounded almost impossible for the doll to run so fast, and continued counting. His voice trailed off after the count of nine and he moved his hands to look around at the empty room. He decided to leave the ribbon on the stick figure since the porcelain doll had wanted it so much. It wasn't very important to him anyway and if he was going to escape he needed to get the other's assistance.

He looked out the doorway that the doll had went and wandered over before peering out. There was a small stairwell made of wood that led into another hall of cement that branched out in two different directions. Both had multiple doors down the sides, but only one had black footprints leading down to the end and leading into one of the doors. He got a small smile as he ran down the hall to the door. He grabbed ahold of the doorknob and went to turn it, but it didn't turn, as though it was locked. When the knob came off in his hand he was immediately disheartened.

Six had to find a way in. This was clearly where the doll had went. Looking at the door he felt his once smile drop into a frown and scanned for something, anything, and then started to search around for something else to use to fix the door. None of the other doors would open and down the other hall he wandered until his optics landed on another door that caught his interest. Located in the exact spot as the other door was another door but, strangely enough, it was missing a doorknob. He looked at the one in his hand before pushing it into the slot and turning it.

This time it opened and he looked in to see that he had appeared in the hall that he went down before, the one with the painting down the wall, and the water seemed to have receded down into the rooms below once again. However, there was dampness on the floor itself, and dark marks through the puddles. He perked and started to sprint down towards the first room once again. Water splashed under his wooden feet and he was soon at the other door which he opened to reveal the room with the short table that was topped with cups and bowls.

Sitting there was the porcelain doll who looked upwards at him before clapping her hands together. They didn't actually make any noise when striking each other, but Six did smile at the gesture and sat at the nearest stool, pulling it out and sitting upon it. That was when the Porcelain doll suddenly spoke to him. Her mouth opened only once and the voice spilled out without needing to form the words. Unfortunately, Six had no idea what she was saying, but the voice sounded pleasant. It sounded young and was clearly female, but didn't indicate much of an expression passed neutral.

She made some sort of remark before turning to her bowl and beginning to eat. She devoured the wet muck of saw dust and water as though it was the most delicious thing in the world. He looked at his bowl of the mash and grimaced at it; he didn't want to try it again and decided merely to pretend he was busy with other things. Soon the female doll paused in her eating and looked upwards at him, he stared back, and then realization took over. _"She's a Sawdust Eater."_

The doll pointed to a doll and said something in an almost sad tone. Six stood and approached the door before opening it and letting his mismatched eyes widen. Instead of the hall, the door opened into the Beyond Lands, and past them he could now see the trees of some sort of forest. He looked back to the doll and she gave him a wave before reaching over to grab one of the other bowls that she used to refill her own. "Good bye." Six said, almost solemnly, though was glad when he stepped down the steps and returned to the outside world.

He took a few steps before looking back to see that the house had now vanished. The trees hadn't, though, so Six made them his next target as he started to walk towards them. On the way to the trees he began to see movement and eventually heard a cry, "Six!" He immediately recognized the voice as Nine's and began to hurry along. He started to sprint, tripping over the gravelly ground beneath him, and started to get closer to the trees. He could hear the other voices as well.

"You found Six?" Seven asked and Nine pointed in his direction. They were glad to see him, but did not dare step back out into the Beyond Lands again, and Six didn't blame them. He soon managed to make it onto the grass and nearly collapsed onto Nine, "What…" He panted, "What happened to you? You were all gone?" Nine blinked a bit, "Us? Six, you were the one who disappeared, we've been looking all over for you." Six didn't understand, but just let it go, "Did we make it to the Club Kingdom?"

"Far from it." Seven spoke solemnly, "We got turned around along the way and… And we're hoping these woods are the ones between the Club Kingdom and the Beyond Lands and not the ones close to the Heart Kingdom." This was certainly a terrifying thought before Nine spoke, "The others are nearby. Come on, let's go tell them you're back." He insisted and Six smiled before following along. The fear of the Hearts didn't leave his thoughts completely, though.

In fact, they didn't leave him at all.

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**Mable: This little adventure was based somewhat off of a film I saw that Whose-Responsible-This introduced me to; an Alice in Wonderland film by Svankmajer. I hope everyone enjoyed! The next chapter will be posted in a day or so!**


	9. And the Past Catches Up

**Mable: Here's chapter nine! I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

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_**The Sanest in the Asylum **_

_Chapter Nine: And the Past Catches Up_

"Then I realized that she was a Sawdust Eater." Six added in to the others who were listening carefully. The entire group was sitting around letting Six explain the tale of what happened to him. They had arranged some sort of makeshift camp for the present while they rested and while Five was trying to sew some sort of tent together he was listening carefully. "She was?" He asked in surprise and Six nodded, "She was! But she wanted to play with me." The Healer hummed to himself, "Interesting. Usually Sawdust Eaters are unstable. Maybe she was lonely."

The March Hare smiled and patted the Artist's shoulder from his seat beside him on the mossy ground, "I'm sure she's not lonely any more, thanks to Six here." Six was certainly flattered, but was loving it. He loved how the others were listening so intently and he loved how he had something so interesting to tell them about. It seemed like his time in Wonderland was only growing better and better with every moment and every time he passed through a trial he was rewarded greatly.

Now he decided that he wanted to talk more and wanted to learn more about this world he was now in. "Five," He asked, "How did you meet Two?" The Hatter seemed taken aback by the question, "What?" The striped one beamed wider, "I was just wondering." The Hatter then got a small smile, "Well, it was a long time ago. Back when I was a child I was an orphan working for the cobbler down the street from Two. He wasn't a very nice man and, but was the only one willing to take me with my…" He touched over his patch, "With this."

It seemed like a hard thing to remember as he grew a little grimmer, "He didn't exactly teach me and instead just made me do the work he didn't like. I guess it was because, well, I'm different. He didn't let me work out front at all because of it, but that's a different story." He waved off before exhaling, "Eventually even he got a better offer. Another apprentice decided to ask for a spot, a Stitchpunk without my problems, and he took him in immediately. That meant he no longer had room for me."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

_The night felt too cold to be located in Wonderland and Five was trembling. His small frame shook as he wandered through the streets looking for somewhere to go. He was now alone and while living with the Cobbler hadn't been pleasant it had allowed him to have decent place to sleep out of the cold and now without that luxury he didn't know where to go. He felt his body start to tremble with more than just cold as a soft sob released from his throat. He didn't think it was fair; he had worked as hard as possible so he didn't know why nobody wanted him._

_It was then that he noticed someone coming through the foggy darkness before him. He gasped in surprise and immediately looked around; Five was still young enough that he feared strangers, especially ones wearing heavy clothing and trekking through the darkness. For all he knew it could be a monster, dragging a heavy sack behind it. In reality it was merely the Butcher, but he couldn't see this, and dashed into the first yard that he saw. He hid in a tight ball behind a bush while pressing against the wall of some sort of house._

_While the small Stitchling Pup attempted to keep himself quiet he unfortunately allowed a few soft sobs to come through. He was so scared as the bush was lacking most of its greenery and he was completely visible to anyone who approached. That was when something burst from the wall beside him and he fell back against the ground. Apparently there was a hidden window there and the shutters had just randomly opened. The small one stared in distress as a Stitchpunk leaned out of the window. _

_It was clearly a young adult unlike Five who was a small child. It seemed surprised to see him, but then got a gentle smile, "What are you doing out here?" He asked with a soft voice and the little male shivered in response. "Why don't you come around front and I'll help you find your way home?" He suggested to the smaller, but Five's response was immediate as he began to weep into his hands. He could no longer control it and just let it all release. The older Stitchpunk was clearly concerned, "What's wrong, little one?" Then he seemed to suddenly catch on, "Do you not have a home?"_

_The tiny doll shook his head in an answer and the older was sympathetic, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you." Then asked gently, "Why don't you come inside and warm up?" The one eyed one shook his head again. "I insist. I have more than enough room." Then the Stitchling Pup spoke, "There's a monster walking around. It'll see me." This caused the older to have a confused look before smiling again, "Wait here. I'll come around and get you." As he disappeared in the house Five called after him, "Be careful!"_

_It seemed like an eternity passed as Five just sat there outside the window and waited for someone to come. He knew to be weary of trusting strangers, but he had no choice, and he knew that this kindly stranger was better than the monster wandering down the street. Soon the bush was moved a bit and the adult from earlier appeared. Five was still feeling hesitant, but the older was too tempting, having carried a coat with him. "Here, why don't you put this on? It's a bit big but it will take the chill off." _

_The one eyed one stood and he had the coat wrapped around his shoulders tightly. "There you are." The older said before smiling in a friendly way, "You still can come inside. I could use the company." The one with the buttons shyly smiled a little, finally done crying. "Okay." The older reached out and wrapped his arms around the smaller, gently lifting him and standing to his feet, able to easily carry the small one. "Do you have a name?" The older asked and the younger quietly answered, "I'm Five."_

"_It is very nice to meet you, Five. I'm Two and I am certain that we will be excellent friends."_

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"Ever since then I lived with Two. He took me in as his own apprentice and taught me to be a Hatter." He explained with a growing smile; clearly the memory turning into a fond one. "I don't think I would've survived without him. Nobody thought I could work because of my birth defect, but Two never doubted me, and now I've become an actual hat maker." Six smiled as well at such a memory. No matter which world, Five and Two were still incredibly close, and that was very endearing.

"I met Five through Two." Nine explained, "He helped me get my home when I was moving." The Artist felt his interest shift at this, "Where did you live before that?" he asked curiously. The Nine in the Emptiness had only been born recently before the Incident while this one seemed to have a longer life. The zippered one paused for a few seconds before explaining, "I lived in the White Kingdom." Six blinked before Seven spoke, "The Marsh Hare here was the first person after Mr. Child to go after the Jabberwock."

"Oh, so you two knew each other before meeting at the castle yesterday?" Child asked in mock surprise that sounded more like sarcasm than anything, "I had absolutely no idea." The two decided not to respond to him and instead the Warrior stabbed her spear into the ground and began to explain, "It was quite a while ago. It was back when my brother was more… Concerned about the wellbeing of his people than the wellbeing of himself. We had already sent a hero to slay the Jabberwock, but after some time the signs that the Jabberwock was alive returned."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"_I don't understand." The King insisted, "This does not make any sense. It stopped. The smoke clearly stopped for long enough that would suggest that the Jabberwocky had been slain, how could it have returned?" The throne room was filled with murmurs as the advisors and others conversed in the meeting that was being held. Everyone was concerned about the rumors that were bubbling from the nearby fishing village. The sailors were claiming that smoke was again rising from the factory of the Jabberwocky and this meant that, again, the Jabberwocky was in production._

_They called them Wockyworks, the small creatures of bone and metal that rose from the factory, and were considered just as dangerous as a Snark or Boojum. That was why they had sent the first hero out to slay the Beast and for a short while they believed it had been done. Though the hero never returned to claim his prize and production was apparently beginning once again. Now they didn't even have the Vorpal Sword at their disposal either. Seven was grim as she spoke, "Brother… We never stopped to wonder if maybe it was never slain. Perhaps it went dormant and-." _

"_Your Majesty..." One of the Knaves started before pausing as he noticed he interrupted her. He was a young male, barely older than a child, and the White Queen dismissed it. "Yes? Any news on the Jabberwocky?" She didn't know whether he was addressing her or her brother, but both twins assumed that it was a mutual address. The young one looked to the floor as he recited, "There's someone who's asking for a meeting with you both." The King was obviously taken aback, "Does he not know we are addressing such a dire matter?"_

"_He does." The Knave murmured meekly, "He wants to go face the Jabberwocky." This took both of the rulers aback. "He what?" The Queen asked in disbelief before the King eagerly added, "Send him in. Make haste." The Knave quickly scurried to the door and escorted the male in. What approached wasn't exactly what was expected. It was a Stitchpunk, definitely, but seemed to have some animal traits that was somewhat common. It was a little odd that he was clearly taking traits from a Rabbit, though, which was one of the Stitchpunk types that barely appeared._

_As such, the Queen was interested, and the Hare beamed before greeting, "Good afternoon! I am honored to be allowed to speak before the court!" He greeted with a confident tone that seemed to confuse the ones who were so distraught about the Jabberwocky. "Where are you from, Hare?" The King asked and the Hare introduced himself thoroughly, "My name is Nine and I was born and raised in this Kingdom. I have been very aware of the Jabberwocky problem since birth."_

"_Indeed," The Queen spoke, "The Knave said that you were offering to stand against the Jabberwocky threat." He seemed to suddenly become a bit more timid, but kept a small smile, "Indeed I am, your Highness." He stood tall again, "I have been studying on the Jabberwocky for many years and I have decided that I am willing to give my life for the fight." The Queen was immediately impressed and the King seemed surprised, "You must be Mad, my good Sir! The Jabberwocky is a ferocious creature that has smite many a soldier!"_

"_Yes, but it must be weak if it stopped its assault." The Hare protested. "I want to do this. I ask for nothing for a reward, I just want permission from the court to go onto the island and at least try." The Queen was very impressed with this offer; few would willingly go into danger like this with seeking some sort of reward. The Queen gained a small smile and spoke, "Yes, you certainly are mad, but we could use someone as such for something so dangerous. As you know, the Jabberwocky is a major threat to our land, and we have few willing to face it." _

_That's when the King spoke, "We will wait for your return, Mad March Hare," The Queen assumed that he was referred to as 'March' because of it being the month of March, which was odd enough, but the Queen wasn't planning to correct him. "We are in debt to you for the time being and we wish for your safe travels." The March Hare smiled before backing out, bowing a few times, "Thank you, both of you! I will not let you down!" _

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/

"I did go to the island." Nine responded to Seven in a slightly quiet tone, "But when I got there…" His optics shifted to Child who seemed to suddenly get unnerved and turned away before walking into the tree line. The zippered male slowly looked back to the Queen, "I'll go after him later." There was a few moments of silence before he huffed, "I'll go get him now." He dragged himself to his feet and sluggishly wandered out of the clearing to find the other once again.

Six watched him leave before being drawn back to the present by Five, "How about you, Six? Do you have a family?" The Artist cracked a smile at this. It was beyond what the Hatter could ever expect and the Artist decided to quickly explain a makeshift story until giving all of the details that he could. "I have a family. They live outside of Wonderland. They're… They're a bit…" Suddenly Six realized that he didn't know what to say about the other Stitchpunks. His mind suddenly pulled a blank. It wasn't until Seven asked a question that he could pull through, "Are they good to you?"

He was honest when he spoke, "Yes. They are very good to me." He explained with a smile, "They just… They just weren't around when I followed Two. They don't even know where I am." This seemed to concern the pale female, "I'm sure they're worried about you. You should message them as soon as we find stable ground." The Artist nodded a bit before their conversation was interrupted by Five. "Here we are!" He cried out and now Six noticed what he had started to work on. Apparently he was trying to light a fire with a match the size of his finger and had been having trouble.

"Finally!" He praised before explaining, "We could boil some water, get a pot of tea going in no time!" He explained, thrilled, and Seven got a small smile before going to kneel down beside him. "Do you need some extra help?" The Hatter smiled a little shyly, "Thanks. I could. It's hard trying to keep this going alone." Six came closer as well and the Healer gestured back to a kettle sitting among the supplies, "Mind filling that, Six?" He asked and the striped one eagerly agreed before grabbing the brass kettle and going to search for a stream.

The greenery of the forest was a nice contrast to the gravel that made the entirety of the Beyond Lands and Six was more than happy to explore. He could hear soft chirping from nearby in the trees and expected it to be some sort of bird perched above, watching him from an undisclosed location. However, he did manage to find a small bubbling brook not too far from the camp. It was out of sight, but still a short walk, and Six went down upon his knees and began to fill the kettle with the cool water.

Something was clearly amiss, though. He could feel it inside his center and he could also tell that it had gone eerily quiet in the forest around him. He straightened himself before he heard a single noise, a snapping twig, and looked back. As expected, he wasn't alone.

Seven managed to keep the small fire stoked as Five brought some twigs from nearby and stacked them upon the small, burning mound. At this point he took over and started to stoke the fire as much as possible. She watched him do so with interest. "So this is what Hatters do when they are not hat making?" The one eyed one chuckled a little, "This and stitching tents, your Majesty." He seemed a little self-conscious from what Seven could notice and she guessed it was because who she was; her title tended to put difference between her and others.

"It's alright to call me Seven. I prefer it over the formalities." She insisted and he straightened himself with a more relaxed look, "Okay, then, Seven." He said in a halting fashion, his body wanting to continue the proper speaking, and as she stood to rest her spear against a nearby tree he spoke. "I haven't met any royalty before. I guess I'm a little… Ah… A little unsure what to say." He confessed as he began to warm his hands and she now gave her own light laughter. "We're normal Stitchpunks. Well, expect the King of Hearts, but I doubt he would be any more normal without his throne."

He seemed amused by this as he reached into his bag and pulled out a small, gold colored tin. Inside was a variety of different kinds of leaves that he began to sort through, murmuring to himself about which kind would be best, and Seven was impressed with his thoroughness until she noticed something. "Six has been… Gone for a little long, don't you think?" The hatter perked at this comment, "It hasn't been too long, but I know there was a stream just nearby. Maybe he's washing before tea?" This seemed like an odd explanation and the Queen was unsettled.

"Either way, I'll go check." She pointed out and was surprised when Five suddenly leapt to his feet. It was so sudden that it took her off guard, "Don't trouble yourself!" He insisted, "I'll go check. It will give me some time to stretch my legs." He also lifted his harpoon weapon and bag before started after the Artist. Naturally, she followed with her spear, and he didn't turn her back. They accomplished the short walk to the stream where they found an odd scene. The kettle was laying in the few inches of water abandoned and on the ground were some scuff marks.

What neither knew was that Six was only a few feet away, but was in no position to speak with his mouth being firmly blocked. He struggled against the restraints to no avail and watched helplessly as his friends wandered around unaware of the danger.

Seven stared at the scene before lowering her helmet over her face, "It looks like it was some sort of struggle. Something got ahold of Six." Five was in stark disbelief and terror stretched across his face, "That quickly?! But we didn't hear anything!" The white Queen was grim, "I know. That cannot be a good sign for us." They continued to search around the waterside and Seven slowly lifted the kettle out with her spear to study it as though it could give any clues to where Six had gone.

Six was horrified. He could see the danger moving in and could do nothing but stay helpless. In a sudden second, his mind clicked onto the first solution in sight with he remembered when Nine and Child had been fighting at the flower patch. With all his might the Artist clamped his mouth down on the restraint around him. It pulled back with a grunt of pain and Six called out, "Seven! Five! Run! It's a trap!" He warned and Seven looked over in alarm, "Six?!" Before she suddenly felt Five's hands on her, yanking her back and out of the way before something could come upon her from the front.

As she looked upwards she realized that it was clearly a card guard, the guards of the King of Hearts, and she immediately pulled her spear upwards to thrust forward. Apparently the guards were already prepared for a fight as they began to swarm in. Five raised his harpoon and started firing randomly while Seven stabbed forward, trying to keep the mechanical guards at bay, and slowly failing. Six struggled against the grip of their leader; Eight had gotten ahold of him so quick that he hadn't even had a chance and now had no way to assist the others.

He watched in horror as they managed to free Seven's spear from her hands. They went at her and Five went to defend her, becoming their next victim, and then Seven was taken ahold of as well. Eight was clearly impressed by what they managed and didn't notice, or didn't care, that the March Hare was missing from the group. "Alright men," He commanded to the group that looked to him loyally, "Let's get moving. We've wasted enough time as it is; the Boss is waiting."

Six had a bad feeling that he didn't want to meet the King of Hearts.

Nine didn't exactly want to come wandering in the woods searching for the Jabberwock and was at least relieved when he found the other somewhat quickly. He exhaled slowly as he watched the other lean against a gnarled tree before approaching, "Hey." He greeted and the other male glanced to him before looking away, "Yes?" The zippered male leaned against the opposite tree in a mocking gesture. "You didn't have to run off. I wasn't going to talk about anything that happened between us when we met."

"And if she asks?" Child recited, "You would be willing to tell. After all, she is the White Queen, the pinnacle of perfection." Nine huffed and straightened, "Would you stop talking like that about her? I'm not a fool, Child. I know that you're lashing out at her because of me." He pointed out and Child just stared at him silently. Apparently he didn't think that Nine would be able to put the pieces together or something and was shocked at the accusation. His firm face softened incredibly and he straightened his posture.

"Just tell me, Nine, tell me what I want to know and perhaps I will find a way to be more social." The burlap one blinked a bit in confusion, "Tell you? Wait, if you're thinking…" He seemed to hit a realization, "Child, when I left the island I didn't return to the White Kingdom at all. I never saw Seven until the point we met again at the castle. She's not the reason I broke my promise. I just… I was busy moving. I got a house by Two and Five, I was taking care of Dormy; I should have wrote, but I just…" A guilty look stretched across his face, "I just lost track of time."

"Do you love her?" Child abruptly asked. His voice was soft, attempting to hide any sort of emotion, but Nine knew it was there. His own face was contorted in a look of shock at having such a question demanded from him and, surprisingly, he didn't know exactly what to say. Perhaps he couldn't say anything at all without something coming out wrong, and he started, "Child, I…" He stopped when he heard the pattering of footsteps nearby and looked back before blinking in confusion at what he was seeing approaching.

The Jabberwock also noticed them, "Who are they?" And Nine merely responded with, "The Tweedles." Before approaching the two smaller Stitchpunks. They were frantic, making chattering noises of horror, and Nine spoke, "What is it? What's wrong?" Because he hadn't seen either of the two since the cornering by the card guards he knew something was amiss. Dee pointed behind itself, Dum pointed towards the camp, and the March Hare felt a weight in the bottom of his abdomen.

"Lead the way." He insisted and suddenly they were running and he was following, Child taking behind them, and when they passed the empty campsite they both knew something was wrong. Then they arrived at the river just in time to miss the entire event completely. The sounds of shifting armor as the guards walked about nearby caused them to realize that it was the card guards and they were nearby. That, and Nine seeing Seven's spear laying on the ground. He lifted it in its grasp and seemed to just know that everything went terribly wrong.

Without a second's thought he turned to the others, "We're going after them." Then he looked straight into Child's optics before speaking clear, "All of us."

* * *

**Mable: Well, this can't be good… Anyway, I wanted to give a little backstory on the characters because, I don't know, it stimulates them to branch out a bit more and allows me more time to write the climax. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	10. The Penalty for Sanity

**Mable: Sorry that this took so long! I meant to post it this morning and got a little lazy and distracted. Anyway, I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

* * *

_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Ten: The Penalty for Sanity_

The forest they were in was certainly closer to the Heart Kingdom than they had expected and Six felt himself grow cold as they saw the deep crimson walls of the kingdom appear. He only struggled a bit and found that it was hopeless against the grip of the Guard who was much larger and stronger than Six. Then again, Eight always had been stronger than Six, especially when he was at the end or his rope. Which he was now after hunting Six for so long without being fruitful.

Six didn't exactly want to look at Eight at the moment, less he look absolutely pitiful in the optics of the larger and that would only add insult to injury. As they entered into the red Kingdom Six's optics tried to study the area. It wasn't like the White Kingdom; it was mostly an enormous castle and instead of a thriving town outside the walls there was merely a set of barracks for the guards themselves. It unnerved Six as he started to count the sheer amount of card guards that were all working under the one who had taken Two and now wanted him as well.

Seven and Five were clearly distressed as well. Their wrists were bound, but at least they were allowed to walk on their own while Six was carried around under Eight's arm like a bag of rocks. The interior of the King of Hearts' castle was lined with guards and red drapery that hung to the floor below. Large windows of stained glass lined the various halls and corridors. An enormous castle that only lacked actual occupants other than the guards themselves. It was very unnerving and as they entered the main hall the smaller felt his nerves begin to overtake.

The throne room was put together in a much different way that the White Kingdom's was as well. The throne was on a pedestal and along the walls were places where a court could sit, though there was no court. The entire room appeared to be more like a courtroom than an actual throne room and the shades of red tended to make Six's pulse race in an way that he could not recognize. Then he saw the King of Hearts himself, sitting upon his crimson throne, wearing a towering crown and staring down at him with a belittling gaze.

Though Six had always expected it to be One so he was not too surprised to see those slanted optics staring down at him. He did feel just as unnerved as if it was some majestic beast perched on a throne of metal and was abruptly dropped onto his feet. Even though he was unbound he knew that he couldn't escape and watched Eight wander over beside the pedestal where a chair waited for him. It was more of a stool and nothing compared to the throne, but it clearly pointed out that One held Eight at some significance.

Five and Seven were lined beside Six and he glanced to see them. The Hatter had a fearful look and past him Seven held a look of strength and anger at the current events. The King stared down upon the three before speaking, "Which one of you, you vagabonds, is the messenger?" Six didn't even have time to speak before Eight spoke, "It's the striped one, Boss. The one wearing the dress." The last comment was said with clear confusion as Eight suddenly seemed to recognize that the smaller was wearing odd clothing.

The King didn't exactly care what he looked like and instead beckoned him to come closer. The short slowly crept forward and was stared down. It was only then, though, that he noticed something strange. As he looked at One he noticed odd things about him. His optics were more slanted than usual and his fabric was a grayish color. Something was clearly off with the male and Six noticed, his mismatched optics widening in recognition. "How dare you get involved in matters that do not concern you." He began to scold and Seven suddenly spoke.

"In my kingdom, we are immediately concerned when Stitchpunks begin to go kidnapped." He glanced to her and responded, "The White Queen herself. I should be honored, but I am not, instead I am greatly offended that you would _dare _rival my Kingdom's authority when I have _mercifully _left your own be for so long." Then he looked back to the group as a whole, "If there is one thing that I cannot and will not allow it is treason." He firmly stated and Five willed himself to speak, not wanting to make things worse but having to speak, "Where's… Where's Two?"

"The White Rabbit is none of your concern." The King insisted and Six suddenly came to his own conclusion to this strange behavior, "You're not One." There was a short pause before the King asked quietly, "Excuse me?" The striped one stood tall and repeated, "You're not One and you're not the King of Hearts. You're something else. You're not them." Both Five and Seven were staring at Six in confusion, the guards in the back of the room didn't seem to understand, and One himself was absolutely silent.

It was unnerving, but Six knew he was right, he knew this thing before him was not One. Then the King of Hearts spoke with a quiet, gritty voice.

"Off with his head."

Six's mismatched optics widened incredibly and even Eight did a double take, "What?" The King lost his temper, "Off with their heads! All of them!" The guards came forward to take ahold of the dolls. Seven pulled against them while Five nearly pleaded, "Wait, no! No- you can't!" The King of Hearts was fully convinced that this was what he wanted. "Throw those two into the dungeons." He beckoned to Seven and Five before turning to Eight, "And take _him,_" He pointed to Six at this point, "out of my sight until the executioner arrives."

Eight actually looked absolutely taken aback and Six looked to him desperately in hopes that he would rebel. _"Eight, no, please, don't listen to it, don't listen…" _Eventually the Guard exhaled and pulled his helmet down over his face again, "Got it, Boss." He strode forward and the striped male could only stare as he grabbed ahold of his arm in a tight grip. He didn't even bother bounding the small one because he easily overpowered him. The Artist didn't allow his legs to move and soon was being forcibly dragged along by the Guard who merely grunted, "Don't make this more difficult than you already have."

"Six!" Seven called out to the Artist before turning on the King, "You're mad!" The King of Hearts scoffed, "We are all mad here." He dismissed before he turned away to head down the pedestal's stairs before disappearing through a curtained doorway behind said throne. The Artist watched him leave before turning to his companions, "Five, Seven!" He called, now practically laying limp on the floor as he was being dragged along the carpet, kicking around as he called out, "It's a lie! He's not One! You have to find Two!" Then he was out of sight.

The next thing Seven and Five knew they were taken to the dungeons on the far side of the castle and soon sharing a cell. The inside was nice enough as cells went, the King of Heart being too precise about his Kingdom's appearance to even be willing to leave a dungeon looking in poor condition. The cells were all empty and filled with nothing except a single bench. High above was a barred window that allowed sunlight to filter through, but it was too small to even give the illusion to being an escape for them.

The Hatter dropped onto the bench with dread, "What are we going to do?" He asked before adding in, "Creator, what if he's already beheaded Two?" The White Queen insisted, "Two's too charismatic. He would have been able to talk the King out of anything. He's probably being kept in another room, but someone acting that off the handle will not admit that to us." The Hatter nodded, top hat bobbing, "You're right… Two always said that he could get the good side out of One… I hope he's alright, and Six."

Seven sat down beside Five and rested an arm around his as he let his face drop into his hands. This was the last place she expected to be and the last place she wanted to be. Helplessly trapped inside a cage, dressed in bird armor, she found it too ironic that she was becoming a caged bird. But she had to be strong; just like she was with her people, she had to be strong for Five who was beginning to falter, and merely closed her optics as she waited for something, anything, to come.

* * *

"How are we going to get in there?" The March Hare asked himself as he stared at the crimson dyed stronghold before them. The entrance doors were wide open and there were hundreds of guards wandering around inside. It was obviously dangerous and he turned back to the three with him, "I don't think we can climb the wall." He pointed out before Child spoke, "I can. If you remember right I am a freak of nature." He explained flatly and Nine smiled a little, "Haven't forgot, actually. Maybe we should try climbing the wall beside the actual castle and bypassing these guard huts in the front."

He looked over at the wall before adding in, "We need to make a distraction." At that moment, Dee and Dum perked and made chattering noises as they volunteered themselves for the act. "Are you sure?" Nine insisted and they both nodded before he exhaled, "Okay… Don't go inside too far and we'll head back to the wall that's closer to the castle and hop over." Child raised a brow, "When you say 'hop'-?" He was cut off by the Tweedles dashing off towards the front entrance of the kingdom while Nine and Child hurried along the wall.

Only a few minutes later they were met by a loud, shrill, shrieking noise vibrating through the air. "What in the- what was that, a banshee?!" The Jabberwock questioned, ducking down and looking around as though he was awaiting something to appear. Nine shrugged it off, "It's just the twins. That should get most of the Guards moving in that direction." The other just stared at him in disbelief before the March Hare beckoned, "Come on. I think I see something up ahead."

Indeed, he did see something. A random door was situated in the large and thick wall, made of metal and strangely out of place. "Why would someone put a door- Let's just consider ourselves lucky." Nine insisted before looking at the door, "It's locked. We'll need to find a way to get it open." Now Child stepped forward, drawing the Vorpal Sword free and wedging it into the crack of the door before beginning to pry. He was clearly using all his strength, but was failing, and eventually started trying to knock it open more aggressively, with his more Machine-like parts.

Nine decided that the wiser solution was to find a rock and try to break the knob off when suddenly the door slammed open, sending Child to the ground on the other side. The March Hare eagerly approached the door, "How'd you get it open?" he asked in excitement only to receive a clear glare from the Jabberwock, "I turned the doorknob." He explained with an annoyed growl as he stood and brushed his front off, "You said it was locked." Nine felt a bit embarrassed and retorted, "Why didn't you try it?" there was a short spell of bickering between the two.

Child eventually stopped talking to Nine completely while the March Hare stormed through the doorway and into the castle grounds. Oddly enough, they were let into some section of a garden, and could see some sort of hedge maze nearby. That wasn't their goal; their goal was to make it inside of the castle and the two hid in the lines of rose bushes. The Jabberwock noticed that some of the roses were dripping red and pointed it out, "If this is some sort of blood…" He began as he touched the mixture; Nine giving a weird face in response of the other actually touching it.

It got even weirder when Child tasted it and Nine's optics opened wide; the last thing Nine wanted was for the other to get a bloodlust and start hunting down the creatures in Wonderland that actually could bleed. Thankfully he announced, "It's… paint. He literally painted roses." The two stood there contemplating the oddity of the situation before Nine spoke, "I heard rumors that the roses were accidently white so they painted them red, but why did they paint them _again?_" The Jabberwock answered, "Bad luck." Then began to search out a door to get inside.

The March Hare never even received a full answer of why the roses were bad luck or even a remark on how Child knew, but instead was met with a second of alarm as thundering footsteps passed. He recognized them as belonging to the King of Heart's main guard, he had certainly heard them enough before. Child hurried back over and got ahold of Nine's arm, "There's a way inside. Let's make haste before _he _comes back." The March Hare snapped into realization and the two hurried to another entranceway.

They were large, regal doors, like what would be found in the front of the castle which suggested that this was one of the main entrances. Nine pointed this out, "There might be other guards coming through here. We have to hurry." Then he pushed the door open and dipped inside. The back foyer led to two sets of stairs that led to a second floor where there was an open second floor. Neither seemed to actually think that they needed to climb to the second floor. It was believed by both that the king would have, by now, put them somewhere much different.

"Where would he put the dungeons? In the basement?" The Jabberwock seemed hesitant, "Either on the first floor or there. I prefer having mine on the first floor as I keep my supplies in the cellar." Nine blinked, "Why do you have a-?" He cut off as he heard movement from the stairs. They immediately headed down one of the halls and began to search. Thankfully halfway through their search something began to happen outside and most of the guards could be heard taking outside.

While Nine was jumpy enough to hide behind whatever he could find he had a feeling it was because of his Rabbit reflexes as Child didn't hide once. Though, he has a feeling it could also be because Child frequently refused to do things that were necessary just because he didn't feel like it. Nine was just about ready to point out that they could be seen they managed to stumble over what looked like a differently designed wing. The overwhelmingly red décor had receded and there stood three doors of heavy iron.

There were drag marks along the floor outside two of them which suggested that they were the ones that were opened most recently. They hurried inside to see that it was, in fact, the dungeon. "Not much of a dungeon." Child retorted and Nine pointed out, "It doesn't look like it's used a lot." The other recited, "Of course it's not. The King has too tight of a hold for anyone to turn against him." That was when the March Hare put his arm back to stop and silence him as he heard speaking up ahead. His optics landed on the thick bars of a cell and he rushed forward, "Guys?"

He looked inside and immediately gaped. Either because Seven and Five were there, sitting inside, completely alright, or because they were sitting there, completely alright, in a tight embrace. It was a little disorienting and Nine felt incredibly disturbed. They looked over and Five gasped, "Nine!" he then stood to his feet and beamed, "You- You've come back! You've come for us!" Nine forced himself to smile, "Yeah. You guys are alright." Child spoke then, "Why is Six not with you?" Seven stood and came closer to the bars, "The King had him taken somewhere else and is planning to have him executed."

Both Nine and Child looked taken aback by the comment. "What?!" Nine cried out and Five insisted, "He told the King that he wasn't the real king and now the king wants to behead him!" Before they could continue speaking, the White Queen pulled them back to reality, "They couldn't have put the keys far. The card guards aren't smart enough to hide them away." The March Hare went to go find the keys; hoping Six, wherever he was, was alright.

* * *

The only noise that echoed through the cell was the sound of Six's own muttering. Unlike Seven and Five's relatively uncomfortable, but not too dreary cells, the Artist himself had clearly been taken into the only section of the dungeon that was actually used. There was another bench, but it had half rotted away, and the stone walls were thick with grime while the floor was coated in straw that was moist and grotesque. The door was of heavy iron and the only type of window was on the wall that was against the ceiling.

In poured sunlight from outside and the promise of escape, but Six knew better. He made a mistake and now he and the others were going to die. "I should have never came." He scolded himself, "Shouldn't have followed Two down here." He lifted his face from his hands and stared at the room he was in, trembling as a slight bit of claustrophobia that began to set in. It was damp and smelled terrible while reminding him home much he wished this was just a dream. He wanted to wake in his warm bed and not be sitting in a cell waiting to die. But he wasn't a fool; he knew this was too real to be a dream.

"What now? Do I die?" He asked himself quietly before a voice spoke, "If you stay here much longer than that would be the inevitable, wouldn't it?" His mismatched optics blinked and he looked upwards towards the window to see none other than the Cheshire Cat. His arms hung through the bars limply and his claws scraped at the wall, one holding a bottle tightly in its grasp, and its mouth in a wide smile. "It's you!" Six cried out and jumped to his feet with a clear smile or relief. "Can you help me? They'll be back for me soon."

The Cheshire Cat tilted his head a bit, "I might be able to do something. I owe you a favor after what you did for me." The Artist blinked a bit, "What I… Did?" The Cat's smile faltered, "You were the perfect distraction. The Duchess is wanted over here and they would've been so willing to take her away if I didn't have a bargaining chip. I told them where you were, but I didn't exactly expect that they'd get ahold of you. Thought they'd lose you out in the nothingness." The striped one understood what he was saying and couldn't help but feel hurt, "You told Eight where we were."

The Cat seemed apologetic, "Didn't have a choice. The Red King's had it in for the Duchess since their falling out. Playing croquet; he said she cheated, she threw a mallet at him." That's when he gestured the other to come closer and the Artist got under the window before the bottle was dropped in his hands. "See if this does something." The striped one looked at the small bottle before opening it. The liquid inside smelled bitter and held a thick, green look. He hesitated for a second before tilting back the bottle and drinking it down. Immediately afterwards he coughed and sputtered.

It was nothing like the shrinking liquid, it tasted incredibly sharp and unappealing, and right after he was done it left a bad taste in his mouth. He then waited for a reaction of some king, but for some reason it didn't respond and he blinked before looking at himself. "Am I… Any different?" He asked and Cat shook his head. Immediately Six felt his mood plummet and clutched his face as his body began to tremble. He couldn't control the outpouring of emotion, he was going to die, and he felt himself beginning to start crying.

It was somewhat bizarre because he didn't exactly feel like he needed to cry. After all, he could have asked Cat for more help, but his body seemed determined to let out the stress that he was dealing with. That was, until something wet hit his hands, and pulled them back to see that they were coated in ink. "What?" Six asked with a choke until he realized that the liquid was all over his optics and on his cheeks. He touched his optics and realized that the ink was leaking out through the lens. Large tears of ink that were leaking out and dripping onto the floor.

Every time Six sobbed, the tears came faster, and soon a growing problem was emerging. Soon the ink was actually covering the floor and beginning to rise towards his ankles, then higher. Immediately Six took refuge on the bench, like when he had retreated to the wardrobe in the Beyond Lands, and soon the same occurrence as before occurred. He was teetering on a floating hunk of wood while the room steadily filled, and as he covered his optics to struggle and stop the flow only for it to fail. Cat seemed more optimistic, "Paddle over here and you can get out."

Six clearly noticed the bars blocking his way, but didn't exactly have another choice, and managed to shove off the wall and float over towards the window. The Cat's claws grabbed ahold of Six's shoulders and the Artist was met with a bizarre rushing feeling before being pulled straight through the bars. As the Cat seemed to vanish and reappear at times the Artist guessed that he had been teleported through. Now laying on the grass safely outside the cell he was more than relieved. He noticed the tears had stopped and lifted the apron to wipe his face clean of the dark liquid.

"Are we on good terms again?" The Cheshire Cat asked casually and Six smiled at him from his seated position, "I think so. Thank you." That's when he noticed something strange resonating through the air; some sort of loud shrieking noise. Six looked around in confusion, "What is that?" The Cheshire Cat tilted its head before suddenly looking towards a window, "You might want to start running about now." The striped one's head shot upwards, "What?" But the Cat was fading and a new noise filtered from deep inside the castle.

Luck was again against Six as he heard the heavy footsteps that belonged to none other than Eight. He jumped upwards and stumbled along the grass as he sought out a place to hide. That was when Six's optics landed upon the entrance to the hedge maze. He wasn't too sure what it was or what it was for, but it looked like his last chance to escape, and began to sprint towards it. He was soon heading into the depth of the maze. Twisting turns of greenery and hedge work. He hadn't got inside too far when he stopped to brace himself and try to figure out where he was.

Confused and delirious, he thought he heard footsteps coming, he tried to actually climb through the hedge itself, using his sharp fingers to claw a hole. Unfortunately, halfway through the act he heard a cry of, "Hey!" The voice was immediately recognizable and he knew it was Eight. He jumped back to hide once again as though it would erase the fact that he was just seen. For a few seconds he saw nothing and heard nothing except a little movement. _"I'll just… I'll just run the other way to which he goes."_

Unfortunately, Eight was a step in front of him, and suddenly a metal blade plunged through the hedge and stopped at only a few inches before Six. The Artist gasped in surprise before moving out of the way, only to watch as the knife started to move and slice through the hedge. Eight was planning to cut his was straight through and Six knew that escaping again would rely fully on a miracle. All he could do was turn and run.

So he did.

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**Mable: Why do I keep rushing the ending? Well, because I have been getting a bit lazy I assume. I just haven't been able to focus, which is such a shame since we're so close to the end of the fic. Next chapter will be a bit more solid, I promise. I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	11. Fever Dreams

**Mable: Here's chapter eleven! I don't own 9, Enjoy!**

* * *

_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Eleven: Fever Dreams_

Six slid around a hedge corner and sprinted down the endless halls of greenery and tried to figure out a way back out. This hiding place had failed the second that Eight had seen him and even now he could hear the heavy footsteps thumping from behind him. Surprisingly the Guard was quicker than the striped one could ever expect and every time he looked back he could see him right behind him. Worse still, the hedge maze was just as stated; a maze. Six had no idea which way led where and was suspecting that he was just running deeper and deeper into the center of the maze.

He was starting to slow down as he grew tired and knew that he needed to get somewhere quick. Then, just like his wishes were answered, he stumbled into the opening in the center of the maze. In the middle was a tall tree filled with red fruits. Six recognized them from the twins having collected some items with their impressions on them; they were apples. Some sort of apple, of course, but what caught his interest the most was what was on the bark. At first it looked like mere scratches in the tree, but as he came closer he noticed they spelled out to words.

"Eat me?" Six had already started to understand that 'eat me' and 'drink me' were both keys that whenever said object was eaten or drunk that something would happen. This caused Six to perk and he ran forward. If he got bigger he could walk over the hedge and if he got smaller he would crawl under, and if he started crying again then he would figure out how to use that. Plucking an apple from the tree he bit down into it and began to chew as fast as he could. A few bites in and the fruit was suddenly knocked out of his hands.

It was Eight and Six went to grab for another one before he was pulled back, "Would you stop that?!" Eight demanded only to be answered by having Six's mouth on his arm, "And stop biting me!" However, before he could do anything more, he released Six to the ground. The Artist wasn't sure why until he noticed the other was backing away. The Artist blinked before he noticed his vision was slightly fuzzy and his body was changing. The world started to move, but the feeling was familiar and so he didn't close his optics as he started to rise.

Taller that Eight, taller than the hedge wall, and soon standing at full height as no longer a Stitchpunk, but a human. Six felt all fear disappear and stared down at Eight who just stared upwards with the same look of horror as before. For the first time in his life the Artist felt an actual smirk rise across his face. Now size didn't matter once again and he merely stepped around the Guard who didn't even make an attempt to stop him. He stepped over the hedges and started to walk straight through the courtyard. Now it was just a matter of where he needed to go.

He had to rescue the others by getting inside, but he was now too big to get inside. However, he also knew that being bigger allowed him the chance to actually pull the castle's roof up, like a dollhouse, and this seemed like a great idea. Unfortunately, there was a problem with this plan, _"I need to get bigger." _Six thought to himself, but considering the fact that he had gotten this far already he was sure that he could find something to assist him. For some reason he seemed to not want to eat the apples again and the mere thought of eating them made his head feel dizzy.

Instead he had to look for something else and slipped between the wall and the castle to get to the front barracks. He felt invincible; the card guards had weapons and would rush at him, but he would merely kick them away. It was such a high to be so powerful, to be a human, to feel something pulse through his arms and into his core. It became like a game to knock and kick them back as he knew that as long as he distracted them they couldn't very well kill Five or Seven. They couldn't do anything.

Eight was strangely absent from all of this and Six decided to merely accept that the Guard knew better than to approach him in this state and continued to circle around. _"I need to make sure the gate's opened." _He tasked himself with and approached the front gate which had been closed tightly at some time, almost as to keep something out. Six planted his foot on the gates and pressed all his weight until he managed to shove them open. Now if he got the others then they could escape because the walls were still a bit too tall to climb over.

That's when the human noticed something behind him. When he spun around he realized that the guards had all retreated, and before him rested a single chest on the ground. He blinked in confusion and leaned down to read the words on the top. "Eat this?" He repeated. That was strange, it wasn't the normal 'eat me' that he was so familiar with, and upon opening the chest in his hands he found a plethora of small cakes. Flaky and fluffy, topped with a white powder that smelled sweet, and marked with a cross of red icing.

Six was perplexed; He had come accustomed to things just appearing out of nowhere, but this seemed oddly out of the blue. Still, if he got bigger he would be strong enough to pry the roof off, and decided to eat one of the cakes. He popped one in his mouth and reveled at the taste. It was delicious, was better than anything else labelled under the 'eat me' title. He dropped another one in his mouth, it wasn't as though he was afraid of becoming too tall, and then suddenly his body shook. A squeaking noise came from his mouth and he covered it with his hands.

It was a hiccup, uncommon in Stitchpunks, and he blinked a bit. _"Maybe that's too much." _He thought as he looked at the spilled over chest. Then he noticed something strange, that the chest looked bigger. He hiccupped once again and suddenly the chest grew, and he shrunk slightly, and he realized that the cakes were making him shrink. Then he realized that this was some sort of trap and as he looked over he could see Eight was clearly nearby in one of the barrack's doorways. He had to get back to the apple tree and struggled to get his body to cooperate.

As he stumbled forward he continued to feel the hiccups bursting through and with each one he dropped another inch, another foot, until he was starting to become significantly smaller. By time he got to the back of the castle he actually looked to his hands to see that they were still human, but were beginning to morph turning into firm metal and beginning to shrink with the rest of his body. Then all at once there was one last hiccup and he suddenly dropped, suddenly shrunk into his normal form, and horror overtook.

He was right back to where he was in the beginning, in the courtyard and shrunk, but this time he realized he had an open way into the castle and hurried inside the back entrance. The marble floor echoed underneath his footsteps as he tried to find a way towards the front of the castle. It seemed as though most of the guards were in the castle and he had to hide more than once to let them pass. Apparently they realized he was no longer a threat and were now seeking him out to entrap him once again.

Unfortunately he didn't hear the footsteps until they were upon him and the strong arms were wrapped around his middle, yanking him back into a small hallway. It was Eight and Six thrashed, "No!" He begged, "No don't! Don't please!" Six didn't want to die and that was the only solution if he was captured. The Guard merely slung him back a bit before getting a grip on his shoulder, "Would you just stop for a second?!" The command startled Six whose response was another hiccup, though he didn't shrink anymore.

"Alright, listen," The Guard began, "getting my hands on you wasn't easy, you drug me all over Wonderland for no reason, and I should turn you back in to the King." Six caught the wording and blinked, "You're not going to?" Eight glanced back down the hall, "No. I'm not." Then he felt the need to explain, because he didn't simply want Six to think he was just letting him go, "The boss isn't one to give much leniency. If you do something wrong he'll 'have your head', but not, you know, really have your head loped off."

He looked back to Six, "Him wanting you dead was weird. Weirder than you. It doesn't make sense. He's never had someone killed like this… Why'd you tell him he wasn't the king?" Six didn't know why this was important, but answered, "He isn't. He looks like the king, but he isn't… Why are you…?" Eight interrupted, "That's what made him fly off the handle, and between that and how weird he's been something's going on." Then he grew firm, "And the only reason I'm trusting _you _is because I know I'd see through anything you'd lie about."

He was right about that, Six was an awful liar and thus seldom did so, and Six also realized something else. "The 'eat this' was you." He flatly pointed out, now realizing that he fell for such a simple trap. The Guard defend himself, "You were running around all over the place kicking my men, what was I supposed to do?" Six couldn't argue with logic and instead asked, "You'll help me?" A moment passed where the Guard refused to respond. He just stared off into space without an answer and Six patiently waited. After all, he was asking Eight to go against the King.

Back in his own world, Six never heard of Eight going against his Leader. Using the magnet when One clearly didn't like it was his own act of rebellion and even that was hidden from the Leader's knowledge. This went against everything that Eight was made for, to loyally protect his Leader at all costs, but even he knew that something was amiss with the king. He just didn't have the same feeling that Six had. "Yeah." Eight caved, "I will. Where's you group?"

At that second, Six caught a glimpse at the end of the hall and the scene that unfolded. Nine, Five, Seven, and Child suddenly zoomed around the corner, stopped at the sight of Eight, apparently they hadn't seen Six, and all four scrambled around the corner once again. Six didn't know what to make of the scene except for staring after them silently. Eight looked back as well, he had to have been deaf to not hear the bizarre footsteps. The March Hare was the one who eventually peeked around the corner before clearly announcing, "It's Six!"

Then they appeared again and starting dashing down the hall towards the two, Six felt slightly embarrassed, and got to his side. "Are you okay?" Hatter Five asked in alarm, looking Six over as the Artist nodded. Out of the corner of his eye his watched as Seven suddenly slammed into Eight and quickly realized that the two were in some sort of brawl. Or, better yet, Seven was trying to stab Eight with her spear and he continued to keep knocking it out of the way as though it was nothing.

"Wait, Seven, he's okay!" Six called out to her, "He knows something's wrong with One. He's going to help us." The White Queen was clearly not wanting to trust the Guard and didn't lower her weapon. "Did he say why?" She asked and Six quickly explained the entire situation at hand. Now that they were all caught up with each other came the next part of the plan, "So where do we go now?" Seven asked of the others and Five was the one to answer, "We have to find Two, before the King decides to… To do anything."

The Artist turned upon the Guard, "Do you know where he is?" of course Eight did, but from the look on his face he clearly didn't want to contribute too much, but did anyway. "He's up in the north tower. The boss has been keeping him in there." This caused the Hatter to perk, "So he's alive! We have to hurry!" He immediately started running in the direction that Six and Eight had come from, which was accurately the way towards the stairs. Right as the others began to follow about five or six card guards seemed to just appear and began to come forward threateningly.

Eight casually stepped forward, "I've got this under control," he announced to the group before commanding, "Stand down." The card guards didn't flinch and didn't lower their weapons. Eight announce again, "I've got this, stand down." From behind him the group was clearly disturbed and Nine spoke, "Something's wrong. They aren't listening." But that wasn't the half of it when suddenly one of the guards pulled out some sort of harpoon. It almost looked like Five's, but more rustic and made of dark metal, and it was aimed towards the group.

"What are you-?" Eight was about to demand before the card guard fired. Six only had a second to jump to the side as the sharp harpoon spear by him, so sharp and close that it tore through the edge of his apron. He immediately gasped in alarm before jumping behind Eight, who was the only one covered in thick armor, while the others began to pull out their weapons, even Eight. "What's wrong with you?!" He bellowed out while the card guards suddenly came forward with spears and swords.

Seven went forward and began to assault the closest guard as she had with Eight, waiting until it impaled forward before dodging and bringing her own weapon forward, impaling into the opening in its armor. Five also began to fire a few needles from the back, aiming them towards the others' limbs to slow them from using their weapons. Eight and Child both used their blades, Child calling out unknown words to fuel the Vorpal Sword while Eight seemed to only have to push the guards back with his strength.

This left Nine and Six in the back, watching unarmed, and they watched the battle until the card guards were all taken down. Six didn't want to watch them killing the card guards, but couldn't look away, especially when Seven put her spear into one of the guards' throats. It immediately killed it, but at the same time revealed something shocking. Seven watched as a pool of black liquid began to spill out underneath. She kneeled down and addressed the helmet while Eight finished off the last card guard.

As the helmet was pulled free Seven gasped. Instead of a Stitchpunk underneath the metal armor, there was a mere lump of sludge that resembled a Stitchpunk. It began to melt away after the armor was pulled free and Seven spoke, "These aren't card guards at all!" That's when Nine realized what it was, "It looks like… Like some sort of Boojum! The card guards are Boojums!" That's when Eight spoke, "The guards ain't Boojums. This… These aren't my guards. I sent my men out to watch the wall when Stripes started raising cain out back."

There was no denying the facts, though, these were definitely Boojums, and they were merely disguised as card guards. "Did the king send them after us?" Silence overtook the hall before Child spoke, bending down beside the body of the revealed Boojum that was slowly melting away. "I have lived alongside the Snarks and Boojums for quite some time, I've studied them and watched them, but never once have I see one willing to take any orders from a Stitchpunk. They prey on dolls, serving the Red King is absolutely baffling, and completely impossible."

"I told you!" Six suddenly broke out, "It's not him! He's not the King!" The evidence was undeniable, or convincing enough, and Eight spoke, "Then who is he, because One wouldn't have just replaced himself with his psycho twin brother." Everyone was confused and unsure, but Five brought attention to their problem once again, "We need to find Two. Maybe he knows what's happening." This was readily agreed and soon the Stitchpunks were heading towards the stairs.

If it wasn't for Eight they would probably become very lost quickly as upon getting to the correct floor Six was confused to see that the walls were lined with mirrors and it was nearly impossible to see their way through the mess. Eight even walked into a few walls once or twice. It was certainly embarrassing, but Eight didn't seem to care too much. The sound of more guards could be heard and, worse still, the sound of their voices were not of normal guards.

"Do you hear that?" Nine asked the others. They had stopped at a door that Eight instructed on them to open. Apparently Five knew how to work with locks and was trying to work it open by trying to jam a couple of hats pins into the lock and twisting it around. Nine pulled his hat off, letting it fall to his back and having his soft ears perk and listen carefully. Child glanced to Nine in interest, "What is it?" The zippered male leaned forward against the mirrored corner and peered around, soft ear leaning out to listen.

"I can hear them, the guards." He pointed out, "They're talking, but… But it's not normal. They're voices are distorted and sound like-Ah!" He jumped up, recognized the sharp feeling, and looked back at Child with an annoyed look while the other merely tried to hide a smug look. "We're in a castle full of Boojums and you're _still _doing it! What's your obsession with flicking it?!" He whispered harshly before reaching back to touch the soft fur of his tail, "I think you tangled it." Child now exhaled in mock annoyance, to hide real amusement.

"Fine then. Turn around and I will straighten it." Nine actually scoffed, "I'm not going to fall for that again." Then paused, putting a hand up to signal the other to wait, "There's… They're nearby… And they're clearly talking about us. Their voices are just strange. Two toned…" They were alerted to door clicking open and Five swung it open before rushing inside to a small winding stairwell. "Two?" He asked softly before starting to climb upwards. Six began to follow along as well, Nine behind him, while the other three waited in the hall.

The walkway was narrow and torches lined the walls to the top were a heavy, wooden door remained. He immediately knocked on the door, "Two?" There was a sudden gasp from inside before footsteps, "Five?" Five was thrilled, "Two! You're okay!" That's when he noticed the ring of keys hanging on a nail beside the door, "Hold on, Two! We're going to get you out!" He jammed the first key into the keyhole and tested it before trying the next, then the next, over and over until one finally clicked and the door was swung open.

There stood the White Rabbit, Two, completely alright and beaming. "What are you all doing here?" He asked before his smile suddenly dropped, "Does- Does he know that you're here?" This took them off guard, so Five asked, "The King of Hearts? He… He probably knows we're here somewhere. Did he hurt you?" Two seemed clearly uneasy about the entire situation as he answered, "No… No he- There are none of the guards nearby?" All of them shook their heads and Six chimed in, "Eight, the leading Guard helped us, because the King isn't the King."

There was a small pause where Two just stared at Six before he asked, "How did you find out?" Both the Hatter and the Hare were clearly confused and Six explained, "I feel it. He's not One, but someone else, someone wrong, someone who wants to hurt us." The Inventor was solemn as he answered, "You're very correct…" Then turned to his apprentice, "We must make haste to the King's private chambers. I doubt _he's _in there now; _he _never goes in there." It was clear that Two was under the same impression as Six, "I will explain everything once we get there."

Then he headed down the stairs into the hall with the others. The March Hare quickly telling everyone where they were going. The White Rabbit briefly acknowledged Six, putting a hand on his shoulder and speaking, "I am terribly sorry that I have drug you into this all, my Friend." He was clearly apologetic and continued, "I had no one else to turn to, but I can see that I put my message into the right hands." Six was almost surprised that Eight or someone didn't make a remark about his sharp fingered hands.

Instead, Two added in, "And I like the new clothes. Blue is an excellent color on you." He smiled a bit and the striped one smiled as well. It was all alright. Or it was for a few seconds until they were running along towards the King's chambers. Six didn't exactly know why they were trying to get to the King's chambers when the King, or what was acting as the King, was searching for them so diligently. They continued onwards through the halls. Nine reassured the others that he couldn't hear any of the guards nearby.

They managed to eventually get to the large, regal doors that revealed One's bedroom. Two opened them cautiously and entered inside, looking around the dark entranceway and beckoning the others to follow him inside. It didn't exactly look like a bedroom, more like another foyer that looked just like the one in the entranceway, but they trusted Two, and Eight didn't argue so they had to be going in the right direction. It was eerily dark inside and Two led them across the carpet to a series of doors, opening the middle one and peering in.

He had a solemn look as he turned to the other, "He's in here… You must see him." Then he disappeared into the room. Six was closest and entered first into the room, clutching his key tightly before watching as Two lit a lamp on a nearby table. In the center of the room was a large bed with a sheer canopy wrapped around it, both were died in red, and Six could see a figure laying inside the bed. He already knew before Two pulled back the curtains who it was.

There lying unconscious and weak in the center of the bed was the King of Hearts, One, and Six knew it was the right one.

The others were very confused and Eight spoke, "What happened to him? He was fine back in the throne room." Then his face suddenly looked alarmed and he seemed to already realize what the others hadn't. Two explained as he reached out to feel the other's forehead for fever. "The King of Hearts was born with a very strange defect, as was your father," He directed this to Seven, "They are visionaries in the most dangerous sense; they can create dreams that can then become physical manifestation. They can dream of places, of things, of people, and for the duration of their slumber they will exist."

The White Queen was in disbelief; her father had never mentioned having this. "But… I don't understand…" The White Rabbit reached into his vest, into his front, and pulled a pocket watch free before checking it, taking the other's wrist in his hand, feeling the resonating pulse of his soul. "Still weak…" He murmured, then explained, "Unfortunately, if they dream the wrong thing, such as a nightmare, it can harm their body. When One began his current dream he was in the throes of illness, of a fever, and still is."

By now Six knew what Two was trying to say, but let him finish. "That doll on the throne is not One, it is merely a manifestation of One's feverish dreams… Unfortunately it seems to have taken a mind of its own and is becoming more and more aggressive. It has begun making its own guards in the basement to replace the card guards and it has kept me from nursing One back to health, which would erase it from existence once again. It is fueled by confusion and delirium and wants to keep him in this state to feed itself."

The prospect was horrifying, but made complete sense, and the White Queen looked away, "Did my father dream of something that would harm him?" The White Rabbit looked to her sadly, "We could never tell, but he was in poor health at the time and it was certainly possible. We cannot let One face the same fate… Less the nightmare grow too strong and… And decide that it no longer needs One to survive." Now the threat was high again and Six broke out, "How do we wake him? Is there a way?"

The White Rabbit nodded, "There is. I just… My supplies were confiscated when I was captured again. If I could get ahold of them then I can bring the fever down." He was clearly anxious so the Jabberwock spoke, "We will retrieve them. We have already spent enough time wandering aimlessly around the castle, it is about time we actually had something productive to accomplish." Two smiled at this and Eight spoke, "They were probably taken down to the storage room in the basement. It's unlocked, the door to its right underneath the stairs."

"You're not coming?" Six asked meekly and Eight hesitated, "Can't. I need to stay here, with my King, and make sure that thing doesn't get ahold of him." This was reluctantly agreed with. Six didn't want Eight to wait behind, he was one of the only Stitchpunks who he felt safe with, but there was nothing he could do. Two also spoke, "It's best I stay here with One and watch his condition. Nine, I set my lance right there, feel free to take it with you." The March Hare nodded and took the weapon in his grasp.

That's when Five spoke, "We should hurry." Then headed out the door, Child in tow, before promptly letting out a cry. This was promptly followed by Child's comment of, "_Creator_! Of course, we should have expected this!" Seven dashed out next, followed by Nine, but Six was afraid to. He looked to the nervous Two and the determined Guard before heading out of the door as well. There, standing before the group, was a slew of Boojum card guards, and behind them was the King himself. Or, as they knew now, the Fever Nightmare. The Nightmare smirked, "And, pray tell, where would you be heading off to so quickly?"

Seven was the one to speak, "How dare you…" Her voice was low and dark, but she said nothing more as she wasn't sure if it was even sentient enough to understand her rage. "Unfortunately it seems that you have well worn out your welcome. Instead of taking you freedom as a gift and leaving you came back. A foolish mistake, but I will not allow this to occur again." With that he lifted his staff, Six was disturbed to see that the end of the staff held a blade like a scythe, "Gentlemen, show our guests what happens when they tempt fate."

The card guards rushed forward and the Stitchpunks braced themselves with weapons raised; a fight was at hand.

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**Mable: So One really wasn't the evil mastermind! He's merely been dreaming… Dreaming the world and inhabitants in his own mind… Ah, anyway, the next chapter will be posted soon! I hope everyone enjoyed!**


	12. A Dream within a Dream

**Mable: This is the final chapter… I'm not going to say anything here or I'll get melancholy, so I'm just going to say that I don't own 9, and Enjoy!**

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_**The Sanest in the Asylum**_

_Chapter Twelve: A Dream within a Dream_

Seven lashed out first with a fury that Six hadn't expected and dove her spear into the closest card guard. Apparently these were better guards than before as this one pulled back in time to dodge before slicing forward with a gnarled blade. She manage to slip back in time to dodge the weapon before yanking her spear upwards to catch the other's blade and trying to pull it from the Boojum guard's grasp. At this moment Child came forward and lashed out, bringing the handle of the knife down on its arm to weaken its grip.

Then brought it down onto the guard's head in an attempt to either knock it out or shove it back. It did stumble some ways away and the next one moved in. Using his blade, Child watched as another approached before preforming a forward lunge to impale the guard before him. The others were moving in as well and Nine lifted the White Rabbit's lance before going forward as well. Much less skilled than the others as the weapon was not naturally his. He still managed to work it well enough and locked one behind a guard's neck to shove it downwards towards the ground.

Five lifted his harpoon and began to shoot towards the guards in the back. Six stared at the others as they fought, knowing he couldn't do anything to assist. The Nightmare Fever didn't fight either, even though he held a large weapon. Apparently he was certain that the guards could handle them on their own. He commanded more to move in to swarm the Stitchpunks. Seven was becoming only more riled as the Guards were armed with more weapons; large sabers and jabbed clubs of metal, coming in faster as she fought them off.

They were clumsy and slow, labored by their mass of armor, so as she brought her spear through any space in their armor and spilled their thick muck across the floors she felt success. As she moved farther into the group Five called after her in warning, "Seven!" She wasn't taking the time to listen to his worries as she ducked down to let a guard swing over her before bringing her spear upwards into its wrist, slinging it to the side to throw it off balance. Unfortunately, she didn't notice that there was a particularly vicious looking guard approaching.

Black ooze leaked out from under its helmet and it carried two large sickles. The guards' numbers were dwindling, but that didn't change the fact that it was threatening, and as Seven downed another guard this one came behind her. "Seven!" The March Hare cried out before jumping forward and putting the lance against the sickle that was attempting to be brought down upon the White Queen's back. Nine caught the one, but promptly after the card guard lifted the other before bringing it down sharply.

The second it sliced open Nine's shoulder the zippered male stumbled back before actually falling to the ground. The lance fell across his lap as he clutched his arm, choking. Seven managed to look back in time to see the scene while struggling to get past the nearby guard who was closing in, "No!" She cried out as the guard lifted the sickle in preparation to bring it down upon the March Hare who knew it was going straight for his throat. Then, just as he was seeing flashes of memory, Child jumped forward and put the Vorpal Sword into the side of its neck instead.

The Boojum fell out of the way and Child turned to Nine, "Do you always-." He cut off and Nine put a hand upwards to signal a pause, hearing the crunching of metal and knowing another guard had been smite, "I'm okay, it's just my arm." The Jabberwock offered him a hand and Nine took it, begin pulled to his feet before suddenly the crunch of metal echoed once again. This time it was different, it was closer and sounded like something was being tore while it occurred, and Nine noticed something strange with Child's face.

He suddenly had a look of shock on his face and Nine already knew, somewhere in his mind he already knew what happened before Child looked downward, Nine following with a horrified gaze. There, going through the upper right portion of his chest, was the long scythe blade that the Fever Nightmare had been manning. Child began making a few gurgling noises and released a dull cough which released a dribble of oil with it. He had been completely stabbed and dropped his sword weakly.

Six watched as the Fever Nightmare planted his foot on the Jabberwock's back and shoved him off of his blade, the pale male falling into Nine who desperately grabbed to hold him. "No! Child, no!" He was begging as the delusion lifted its scythe, "His blood is on your hand, you fool! You were not in the equation and you still came in when you were not-!" before he could finish a new challenger stepped up. Six was so quick, grabbing ahold of the fallen Vorpal Sword and going straight at the thing that resembled One.

"No, no!" He cried out in absolute hysteria as he began swinging at the creature, "No more! No more of this! You're just a nightmare- all nightmares go away when awake, and I'm not asleep!" He continued to stab forward, the blade seemingly reacting to his words, Five and Seven only being able to help by taking out the approaching guards. The Fever Nightmare was constantly there, mocking him, and Six finally fell off of whatever edge of sanity he had been on. He was tired, tired of running, tired of being scared, and he just wanted it to stop.

When the scythe came down he merely swung the Vorpal blade to clash with it. "You don't belong here!" The Nightmare bellowed, "A madman who has only come here to escape whatever's out there that scares it! Wonderland is not your home!" Six retorted, "It's not, but it's not yours either! You don't even exist- you're just, just a nightmare! Just a bad nightmare and when I close my eyes-!" He lashed forward and slashed into the creature. There wasn't the sound of metal on metal, or fabric, and the Artist opened his optics before gasping.

The middle of the creature had turned into powder and merely disintegrated. Six gasped in shock, but he knew that he could do this; it really was just a nightmare. He slashed again, and again, and slowly the Fever Nightmare began to vanish. It lost its color, its face stretched and contorted, and he continued to slash until suddenly the remaining particles sucked into each other before dissipating. It was gone, the nightmare was gone, and suddenly the Boojum guards began to drop one by one. Now released by the nightmare's hold, what little bit of them was off Boojum evaporated.

Six promptly dropped the Vorpal sword to the ground as though the weight was more than he could handle. It took a few seconds for him to look back to the others and see the scene. Five was now beside Nine who was holding Child and looking incredibly upset, "Come on, it's going to be alright, just don't fall asleep. Stay awake." Six could only stare before suddenly the door behind them swung open, "What's going on out there?!" Eight asked in alarm; Six mentally noted that the Guard didn't come out until it was quiet once again.

"Eight!" Six cried before rushing forward and grabbing the Guard's hand, yanking him. The larger was clearly confused and didn't budge an inch. "I need you to help, we need to go get Two's things." Eight immediately asked, "Why can't they-?" Then cut off as he noticed the scene nearby. He raised his brows a bit before Six insisted, "I need help, please, to get Two's things." Eight finally spoke, "Alright, alright, I'm coming." He came along willingly so Six didn't see the need to continue dragging him along and merely quickened his pace a bit more.

He hurried out of the room and back in the direction of the stairs, sprinting with an energy he didn't know that he had. Eight had to bring him back on track every few seconds, but they managed to make it to the storage room. Eight watched in amusement as Six tore through the large room searching through everything when the bag was in clear sight. Eventually the Artist got ahold of it, dashed past Eight, and headed up the stairs again. Unfortunately, now he felt a bit strange, now he felt a bit weak.

The last thing Six saw was his body falling towards the stairs and then darkness.

When Six awoke he focused in on the bright red room around him with a groggy gaze. His head pounded, his body ached, but at least he was lying in a nice bed and slowly sat upwards before crawling to the canopy curtain. He gently pulled it open and immediately caught sight of Five stretched out on a ruby colored couch nearby. The Hatter was completely asleep and Six was hesitant to wake him, so instead he merely stood and started to wander to the door, exiting it.

The Hatter looked too tired to wake, but thankfully there was someone awake outside the door. From down the hall he could hear speaking. "You shouldn't be out of bed yet." The White Rabbit's voice insisted and the Artist gasped to hear the King of Heart's voice in return, "I am fine, Two, stop crowding over me. I will live." His voice sounded much more like the normal One and not aggressive, just insisting, and Two returned, "You nearly didn't, but if you feel well enough then I won't press."

The blue clad Stitchpunk continued down the hall before entering into the throne room where he could see One sitting on the throne with Two alongside him. The White Rabbit was clasping one of the King's hands and was petting it gently. The other hand of the King's was stroking his temples tiredly, and Six spoke quietly, "Hello…" Two glanced over and immediately gave him a warm smile, "Afternoon, Six! How are you feeling?" Six approached the throne hesitantly, "I'm okay. What happened?"

"You collapsed from exhaustion and have been sleeping ever since." The White Rabbit explained with worry and the memories of jogging on the stairs came back, "I guess I did. I didn't know I was tired until…" He then looked to One and spoke, "One- Your majesty, you're better!" One now spoke, "Indeed I am. There is no need for formalities, Six. Two has told me of your part in this nightmarish affair. I thank you for you effort." Then shifted a bit, "And as such I grant you a title. However, my head is pounding, so your title will wait until later." He still acted like One, unsurprisingly, and Six was pleased.

His mood shifted as he asked with concern, "Is Child okay?" Two again nodded, "He is well. It took a day of surgery, but he has recovered." Six noticed he said 'day' and wondered how long he had been asleep. Two added, "Why don't you go see him? He's right down that hall." He insisted and Six decided to agree, beginning to head in the direction. He could hear the other two speaking as he left. "I think it's an excellent idea! After all, they did assist us, and the castle is virtually empty anyway. What would a few guests be?"

One seemed very hesitant and insisted, "I don't want a group of strangers running ramped through my castle…" The White Rabbit prodded further, "It would just be for the evening. It would be-…" Their voices trailed off as Six continued down the hall. The world seemed so much less threatening now and he was pleased at it. He went to the door that was slightly ajar and peered inside as he could hear voices. This is where Nine, Child, and Seven were residing now. Seven was sitting in a chair beside a bed, Nine sitting on the foot of the bed, with Child laying behind him across the bedding.

The latter was looking tired and watching Nine and Seven wearily as they spoke. Six didn't hear much of the conversation except a brief mentioning about the roses being covered in wet paint. They both looked over to the door and immediately smiled. The March Hare as the one to speak, "Six, you're awake!" Six again believed that he had been asleep for a while and approached the group, "Yeah. I saw One was alright." Seven then spoke, not seeming nearly as bitter as before, "He is, and he's being relatively social." She added in and Six pointed out, "Two's trying to get him to have some sort of celebration."

This caused her to perk quite a bit, "Really? Is he getting through to One?" Six shrugged a little in response; he wasn't very sure if the shorter male could get through to the Leader. The White Queen stood with her own confident smile, "Maybe I could persuade him, or at least help back up Two." She started out into the hall before the Hare followed after her, dismissing himself. Child watched them leave before looking to Six who sat down at the foot of the bed where Nine once was.

"Are you hurting?" He asked innocently and the Jabberwocky straightened himself a bit, "Not very much. Only when I force myself. You? You've been asleep for days." Six's look of shock betrayed him. "You didn't know?" The Artist shook his head. "Strange, the Hatter said he was planning to. Either way…" Footsteps at the door and suddenly Nine returned into the room. Child looked pointedly surprised, "You came back." He said as he averted his optics to the bedding spread over his legs. Nine pleasantly answered as he sat beside the male, leaning back on the pillows.

"Of course, why wouldn't I? I'm not going to leave you here alone when you're injured." Six decided not to point out that he was there as he assumed Nine wasn't including him on purpose, to make Child feel better, and it seemed to work. The pale male smiled a little over towards the Hare who smiled back. The striped one blinked a little before thinking, "_Did something happen between them while I was asleep?" _The mere thought made him feel a little warm but at the same time out of place. He wanted to leave the room rather quick as he felt like that he wasn't needed at the moment.

"I'm going to help Two, too." He dismissed himself and exited out of the room, only looking back in time to notice Nine slip his arm around Child's shoulder's in a friendly manner, a friendly manner that seemed to change when he rested his head against the other male's. The Artist felt his mouth widen into a smile and continued along down the hall. By time he reached the throne room, Seven and One were having a strange disagreement about whether or not to invite the White King, her brother.

He managed to find Two who was thrilled to explain that the celebration, he referred to it as a feast, was to go on as planned. Soon Six found himself busy with helping Two figure out everyone to invite and where they had been so that they could be invited. The work was pretty tedious compared to everything else in Wonderland that had been so active. However, it was nice to actually sit down and get some rest. Apparently the King of Hearts did have some servants.

They were short Stitchpunks wearing ruby skirts, even though Six didn't think they were females, and set the table with utensils of gold. As the afternoon turned to evening, Six began to feel a little nervous and decide to ease himself by looking around the castle. Now free to wander around the castle without being hunted, Six started to search through the rooms. Unfortunately, there was a clear reason why Two wanted to invite visitors in. The entire castle was relatively empty with many of the rooms being empty guest rooms or sitting rooms that were seldom used.

There was also an overly large library where Six found that he wasn't alone. His mismatched optics widened at the sight of the two, small, hooded Stitchpunks who immediately scuttled behind a shelf filled with books. "Th- Dee? Dum?" He caught himself and asked curiously. Apparently they were still skittish from everything and barely peeked out from their hiding place. Their optics both widened and their mouths broke into smile before they released a couple of the giggle resembling chattering.

Before Six could brace himself, the twins slammed into him fully, hugging onto his striped body with joy. "You're both okay." The Artist said in relief as he held them close. "You can come out now, it's safe. The thing that was chasing us looked like the King of Hearts but wasn't the King of Hearts. He's not bad." He insisted and the little ones looked to each other, chattering briefly to each other, and then got curious looks. "The others are here too." He explained and now they seemed eager to go see. They waved goodbye and dashed out of the Library, leaving Six standing there alone.

He glanced around at the Library briefly, at the winding stairs that led onto the second floor of books, and the marble floor that resembled the normal Library's. It was majestic, but it didn't hold his interest long. Six liked books but didn't find that in this situation it would catch his interest as much. He headed back out into the hall and this time followed something new, a different sense other than curiosity. As a Stitchpunk he felt no hunger, but as he smelled the scent in the air he wanted to investigate, to see if taste still applied in Wonderland.

"_I never even asked them why they ate." _He remarked as he continued down the hall to a separate foyer. Apparently the castle went deeper down as he soon was on a walkway that looked down at a foyer below. He hurried down the carpet covered stairs and entered another doorway that led into the kitchen. It was filled with ovens that were glowing warm, stoves that were all topped with various pots and pans, and lengths of tables covered in ingredients and tools.

There were at least four chefs wandering around working while one large Stitchpunk, who had a long flap of fabric that looked like the tongue of a leather shoe hanging down his front, dictated them from nearby. Six assumed that he was the one leading the others and wandered over to a table of completed meals. They certainly smelled nice and there looked like more than enough for the guests. Just as Six was about to slip and reach for a nearby plate of berry filled tarts he was stopped by a small voice.

"Mr. Six?" He looked beside him to see a little Stitchpunk standing beside him. It wore a little red vest and had sharp optics that reminded him too much of One. He continued in his tiny voice, "Mr. Six, the guests are beginning to arrive." The messenger, some sort of Knave, then moved his optics to the table and just stared. Six watched him stare. The moment droned on for a few seconds. Then, suddenly, the little one spoke, "Can you please hand me that plate?" Six just assumed that he was planning to take it out to the guests and lifted the silver tray with his ink pen tips.

He made sure that the Knave had ahold before he released it into his grasp. Immediately afterwards, the little one began to juggle the plate on one hand and plucked a tart from the group. He popped it into his mouth and reached for another one. He was moving quickly, trying to eat as many as possible as fast as he could, and Six could only watch before the scene was interrupted by One entering to check on the kitchen. It didn't surprise Six; the One back from his world tended to circulate and watch when things were being done, such as watching when Two and Five were working or such like that.

The Leader immediately noticed the young one, "Twenty-One." He promptly spoke in a scolding tone and the Knave looked back in shame, then forced a smile, "I was… Going to bring some out for the guests." The King didn't buy it, "What did I tell you about spoiling your dinner?" The Knave looked downward at the floor before pushing the tray onto the table. He sulked as One put a hand on his back and guided him to the door, "Now run along and don't get into mischief before dinner." The King of Hearts then turned to Six and the Artist winced, wondering if he had figured out his help with the entire thing.

One didn't seem to though and instead stated, "Come along. They are your guests, you should be the one to greet them, being the guest of honor." Six was taken aback, "Guest of honor?" The King explained, "Of course. You were the one who slay the nightmare so it is you who is the celebrated party." He actually gave a ghost of a smile and Six felt a swell of warmth in his insides. He was a hero, even One thought so, and it made his long adventure worth it. He followed the King out, down the hall, and into the set dining hall.

By now all of the guests seemed to have already been seated and the Artist looked through them. For some reason the Walrus and the Carpenter were there, bickering over whether vinegar or bread when best with fresh oysters, but Six wasn't bitter towards them as they noticed him and waved. They were probably only being nice because they thought he invited them to the celebration; he had only mentioned them, but didn't expect Two to actually invite him, but decided just to let it be and wave back.

The Sheep was also there, still knitting as before and muttering something to the Cheshire Cat who sat beside her. Instead of posing like a pet, he sat like a normal Stitchpunk and merely waited for dinner, giving the Artist a wink as he went by before gesturing to Seven who was nearby. Six didn't get what the reference meant, but waved anyway. The Duchess sat on his other side and fawned over Dum who was seated closest, murmuring about her 'lovely fabric'. Whether or not it was a mutual agreement, the White King was there, along with his bride.

There was a hooded figure as well that was bandaged and wrapped tightly so that it couldn't be seen, but Six noticed that someone had placed a bowl of mushy woodchips before it. He already knew who it was a smiled at the Sawdust Eater before continuing along. At the end of the table were the others, smiling and laughing, having Five pouring them tea and trying to get him to stop when he began to repeat ingredients in an infinite loop. Six was placed in a chair beside One, on the other side of the King of Hearts residing the Knave and then the White Rabbit.

Only seconds after they had sat down One lifted his glass, it was immediately filled with crimson wine by a passing waiter, and he then tapped it with a fork. "May I have your attention?" There was still talking and One tapped the glass much harder, "_May I have your attention?" _Now everyone fell quiet, "Very good, _Five sit down, _I would like to propose a toast." Five dropped down into his seat while the others lifted their cups, most filled with tea and only One having a wine glass.

"To Six," One began, "Who has saved my kingdom for turmoil." He went to drink when Two suddenly stood in his place, "I would like to say something as well." He insisted, "I would like to propose my own toast to Six, my messenger, who risked his life to make sure my words continued to their destination." He sat down and then Five spoke as well, "I… Well…" He seemed a little hesitant to speak and quoted, "To Six, you've been a great friend to us, you rescued us, you put us through- you lead us through so much. To Six, our Guide."

Finally the cheers went through and Six felt a little embarrassed by the attention, but merely smiled at it. Then, suddenly, he felt bad and for a second he didn't know why. A sharp pain in his core as he watched the waiters and waitresses bringing in the meal for everyone. His mind wandered uninterested in the meal, "_I should be happy. Everyone's here, everyone is thanking me for helping, everything is alright… But…" _Then he admitted, "_But they aren't everyone, are they? They're Wonderland versions of the others, but the others, my family, they aren't here."_

His mismatched optics closed as he finished the thought, _"They don't know what I did, they just think I ran away. Are they even looking for me?" _He opened his optics and watched as a waited filled his plate, forcing a smile and thanking the waiter, "_But maybe they are. After all, they came after me when I fell into the trench, or Five and Nine did… But I guess the other couldn't because they had to help Two and One, and… And maybe I was wrong about them not caring about my drawings too." _He looked to his plate and lifted a utensil in his sharp fingers before prodding at the food before him.

It was a plate of roasted meat and large potatoes, though Six himself only half knew what they were, and he stabbed at a large potato before lifting part to his mouth and nibbling at the vegetable. "_I miss them. Even though I'm here with them I miss them too…" _He managed to smother the emotions enough to continue enjoying the evening.

Nobody else seemed to notice his distress as they were distracted; One making it his job to tell Seven and her brother about how to be proper leaders, Two cleaning tart jam from the Knave's face, and Five putting spoonful after spoonful of honey into Child's cup while the latter continued coaxing him with amusement. It was after that Six finished his plate, the food again vanishing after being chewed, that something caught his optic while he was taking a gulp of tea.

There, passing the entrance, was none other than Eight He immediately lowered his cup and stared at where the Guard had been, listening to his heavy footsteps. He hadn't seen Eight since he had fainted on the stairs and was confused at why he didn't attend the banquet. He quietly dismissed himself from the table and began to head after the Guard curiously. Said Guard was heading down the halls out towards the back of the castle and the Artist followed quietly, knowing that Eight, or at least the one from his own home, wouldn't be as keen on him following behind and spying on him.

Eventually they made it out into the courtyard behind the castle, near the hedge maze and the painted roses, and Eight leaned against the nearby wall. It was then that he spoke, "Any reason you're following me around?" He had been spotted, and Six peeked out from the door, gawking. Then he softly spoke, "Why weren't you at the celebration?" The Guard raised a brow, "Why would I be?" The striped one merely stared in response and the larger explained, "I'm a guard, a servant, I'm not allowed at One's table when there's guests, less I'm standing there guarding him. You had that under control."

He stated that in a little amusement, a small smile giving it away. Six smiled as well, "I do my best fighting when I go days without sleep." He suggested before wandering over to Eight. He then pointed at a small, marble wall lining the exterior porch beside Eight, "Can I sit with you?" He didn't know why but Six suddenly felt a bit bolder and much more confident. Eight shrugged, "I'm not stopping you." This was the closest that he would get to a 'yes' and passed the larger before sitting down. The wall was wide enough that he stretched a leg out along it and leaned back comfortably against the wall.

He stared out at the moonlight briefly before Eight spoke, "So what are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be in there partying?" The striped one opened his mouth, but no excuse came, and instead silence prevailed. This wasn't normal Eight, he could talk to this one, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to. Eight was looking at him curiously and finally he was willing to at least spill a little. "I… I miss my family. I don't think I'll see them ever again." The Guard didn't seem sympathetic at first, "Then why didn't you get Two to invite them? You talked him into bringing the Duchess and she's the one that's clingy."

The Artist barely forced a sad smile. "They're not in Wonderland. They're up the White Rabbit's tunnel." Suddenly Eight's eyes widened, "They're _what?" _Six continued, "I think it's called the 'Rabbit Hole'. I fell down it." Eight fixed himself, "That's better. I was thinking- Doesn't matter." He waved off before directing to something else, "Should have figured you came from out of Wonderland. You're not like anyone I'd expect to meet from here." He wasn't saying it like an insult, so Six decided to take it like a compliment instead.

"I don't know if I'll see them again." He admitted pitifully and the Guard merely retorted, "They'll probably come down here looking for you." Even though it wasn't normal Eight, this was Eight saying this, and if Eight thought it here then maybe he thought it back home as well. Maybe they would come down to search for him; they'd have to live in Wonderland from then on, but they would be together at least. This made Six perk quite a bit and he smiled wider. He waited for a few seconds before softly speaking again, "Thank you. Hearing you say that makes me feel better."

Eight stood from his leaning position, "Yeah, well, least I can do. Fixing One and all." He started towards the entrance once again, "You coming back in?" Six nodded, "I will. I'm just…" He stared out at the sky, his mind foggy and hazed, almost like he was tired. He leaned back and allowed his optics to close before hearing Eight speak again, "Six?" This time he sounded confused and Six opened his mismatched optics once again.

Everything suddenly changed.

All of the surroundings were different and for a second the sight was jarring. There was no castle, no garden, even his clothing that he had become so accustomed to were missing as well. Instead here he was, leaning against the metal gate in front of the Library, arm draped over it and head foggy as though he had been asleep. Then it suddenly hit him fully, "It was all a dream?" he asked himself quietly. The evidence didn't lie and for a second he felt especially heartbroken, "No, no. It couldn't be. I was just- I was gone for days."

That's when Eight's voice rang out again, "Six? What are you doing out here?" Mismatched optics raised to see the other Guard standing there. Normal Eight, not the Wonderland one, standing there looking at him in confusion. Six merely blinked at him for a few seconds before Eight spoke, "Everyone's been looking for you. Where've you been?" The Artist didn't know how to answer except for asking, "How long- How long was I gone?"

The larger shrugged, still looking like he was probing for questions, "Couple of hours, maybe. One's been making search parties and everyone's been circling around trying to find you, and you've been out here?" The striped one looked downwards only to see his picture from before. He took the drawing into his hands as he stared into it. That's when he suddenly realized what it was, it took all this time to see through the black ink marks and notice what it really was; a rose dripping with some sort of liquid. It was the painted roses, he hadn't known it, but he had dreamt of Wonderland before he saw it.

His face broke into a smile; maybe that meant it wasn't just a dream. "What are you smiling about?" Eight's tone wasn't particularly harsh, just inquisitive, and Six decided to answer with, "I… I fell asleep, and I had a dream." Considering the fact that Six barely got any sleep because of the nightmares this was surprising in its own. "Was it another nightmare?" Six could swear that Eight sounded a little concerned. Then again, that was Eight, always making sure to keep his emotions wrapped under layers of taunts or gruffness. "Actually," Six admitted, "It was a good dream. You were there, everyone was there, and we-…"

That's when inspiration struck for something new; he wanted to tell all of the others the story about what happened, just in case they could find Wonderland again in the future, and he leapt to his feet. "I want to tell them too." He insisted and Eight responded with, "Either way, you need to go show them you aren't dead or anything. They were going crazy looking for you." For some reason this made Six feel better; they really had been looking for him and he smiled before walking straight to Eight's side. "I will. Let's go."

Boldly he took ahold of Eight's hand and led him along with him. He was nearly skipping as he headed back to the Library ready to tell his story. Eight just went along with it and followed him. Six didn't know what had actually happened, but he thought it was more than just a dream, he even felt like a different Stitchpunk.

Wonderland was an asylum and they were all mad down in its depths. Perhaps he was still considered somewhat unstable here, but Six was still the sanest in the asylum, and he could live with that.

_**THE END**_

_For Now_

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**Mable: Before anyone asks, yes that last line is a confirmation that there will be a sequel in the future. That's not all, I'm also thinking of making a prequel involving Nine's quest to slay the Jabberwocky. Look out for both of those in the future! Also keep a look out for my next request, chaptered fic: 'The Microcation Chronicles', which was requested by Ink. I also have a couple of other requests, but I won't list them here.**

**Here's a few facts you may find interesting.**

**The entire chapter on the trip across the sea was inspired by the Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark'. The Boojum's attack was inspired by the poem's end where the Snark they were hunting for became a Boojum. Boojum's are notorious for taking other creatures away, to make them vanish, so I was inspired to make it a creature of sludge that can change its form and evaporate at will. Child's design was to be the hero that slayed the Jabberwock, though was changed that so he became the Jabberwock. **

**The Vorpal blade may have been named from the words 'Gospel' and 'Verbal', so I made the blade react to speech and emotions through speech to power itself. Also, the Jabberwock is commonly mispronounced as 'Jabberwocky', and so in the story it was made so that the others incorrectly referred to it as the Jabberwocky while Child reassured that he was called the Jabberwock. Wockworks were planned to have a bigger role in the story, but didn't get to. If they would have they would have probably taken their appearances from the Eyepots in Alice: Madness Returns.**

**The Sawdust Eaters were not inspired by Alice: Madness Returns. Instead they were inspired by Svankmajer's Alice, inspired by the fact that Alice, when shrinking, would become a doll, and the White Rabbit was shown eating sawdust. The movie was introduced to me by Whose-responsible-This, the requester of the fic. The Red King's chef is an illusion to Quina from Final Fantasy 9 who was shown cooking in the castle in the beginning of the game. And, finally, there is a Wonderland version of Six, and he was the one painting the roses red.**

**This has been quite a story! Who knew a request would become this? I certainly didn't. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed, and I thank everyone for reading!**


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